THEL1BRARYOF 
JOHN-W1CKUFF 
ICITC H  LLL 

PAN  A  ILLINOIS 
*1835  **  1914* 
BEQVEATHEDBY 
MRS.  MARY  F. 
ICITCHLLL 

1N  1931 

LIBRARYOFTHE 
VNIVERSITY 
OF  ILLINOIS 


D9ShEc 

\S94- 

v7' 


HERTZBERG  —  NEW  METHOD,  INC.  EAST  VANDALIA  ROAD,  JACKSONVILLE,  ILL.  62650 

I  0  TITLE  NO.  ACCOUNT  NO.  LOT  AND  TICKET  NO. 


t  *2/  -  5 


HISTORY  OF  ROME 

AND 

* 

THE  ROMAN  PEOPLE. 


% 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign  Alternates 


https://archive.org/details/historyofromeofr71duru 


History  of  Rome 


AND  OF  THE  ROMAN  PEOPLE, 

FROM  ITS  ORIGIN  TO  THE  INVASION  OF  THE 

BARBARIANS. 

By  VICTOR  DURUY, 

MEMBER  OF  THE  INSTITUTE,  EX-MINISTER  OF  PUBLIC  INSTRUCTION,  ETC. 


TRANSLATED  BY  M.  M.  RIPLEY , 


EDITED  BY 


THE  REV.  J.  P.  MAHAFFY, 

PROFESSOR  OF  ANCIENT  HISTORY,  TRINITY  COLLEGE,  DUBLIN. 


(Containing  obcr  ©Ijrre  ©fjousanU  Engravings,  ©nr  f^unVreU  fTlaps  ani  plans, 

AND  NUMEROUS  CHROMO-LITHOGRAPHS. 


VOLUME  VII. 

Section  One. 


BOSTON: 

ESTES  AND  LAURIAT. 


ILLUSTRATED  LIBRARY  EDITION. 


- 4 - 

This  edition  is  strictly  limited  to  one  thousand  numbered  and  registered 
copies ,  which  are  sold  to  subscribers  for  complete  sets  only. 


This  is 


Copy  No..  315 


Copyright,  1883  to  1886, 

By  Estes  and  Lauriat. 


SKntoersttg  IPrrss: 

John  Wilson  and  Son,  Cambridge,  U.  S.  A. 


SfGUJIU  }0 

xjuqn  aHi 


ANCIENT  NECKLACE  FOUND  AT  NASIUM 


931 

3>93f>  £c- 
)9'1+ 

V,7‘ 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

VOLUME  VII. 


ELEVENTH  PERIOD  {Continued). 

THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES  (180-235  A.  D.). 


J  CHAPTER  XC.  [Continued .) 

THE  CHURCH  AT  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  THIRD  CENTURY. 

II.  Transformation  of  the  Messianic  Idea . 

III.  The  Christian  Dogmas . 

IV.  The  Hierarchy  and  Discipline . 

V.  The  Heresies . 


CHAPTER  XCI. 

THE  PERSECUTION  UNDER  SEVERUS. 

I.  Idea  of  the  State  among  the  Ancients  :  Opposition  of  the  Christians  . 

II.  Rescripts  of  Trajan,  Marcus  Aurelius,  and  Severus . 

CHAPTER  XCII. 

CARACALLA,  MACRINUS,  AND  ELAGABALUS  (211-222). 

I.  Caracalla  (211-217) ;  Right  of  Citizenship  accorded  to  all  the  Inhabitants  of  the 

Empire . . 

II.  Macrinus  (217-218) ;  Elagabalus  (218-222) . 

CHAPTER  XCIII. 

ALEXANDER  SEVERUS  (222-235). 

I.  Reaction  against  the  Preceding  Reign;  Mamaea  and  Ulpian;  the  Council  of  the 

Emperor . 

II.  The  Gentleness,  Piety,  and  Weakness  of  Alexander  Severus . 

III.  The  Sassanidae . 

IV.  Expeditions  against  the  Persians  and  the  Germans ;  Death  of  Alexander  Severus 


PAGE 

1 

9 

21 

35 


45 

56 


74 

96 


113 

123 

132 

136 


777399 


VI 


TABLE  OE  CONTENTS. 


TWELFTH  PERIOD. 

^  MILITARY  ANARCHY  (235-268  A.  D.).  BEGINNING  OF  THE  DECLINE. 

CHAPTER  XCIV. 

SEVEN  EMPERORS  IN  FOURTEEN  YEARS  (235-249). 


*  PAGE 

I.  Maximin  (235-238)  ;  Gordian  I.  and  Gordian  II. ;  Pupienus  and  Balbinus  (238)  145 

II.  Gordian  III.  (23S-244) .  105 

III.  Philip  (244) .  173 


CHAPTER  XCV. 

J  THE  EMPIRE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  THIRD  CENTURY. 


I.  The  Barbarians . 179 

II.  The  Roman  Army . 187 

III.  The  Administration  . . 199 

IV.  Decline  in  Industry,  Commerce,  and  the  Arts  ;  Depopulation  of  the  Empire  .  .  206 


CHAPTER  XCVI. 

FROM  THE  ACCESSION  OF  DECIUS  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  GALLIENUS  (249-268)  ;  PARTIAL 

INVASIONS  THROUGHOUT  THE  EMPIRE. 

^  I.  Decius  (249-251)  ;  Goths  and  Christians . 222 

II.  Ravages  of  the  Barbarians  in  the  Empire;  Valerian;  Persecution  of  the  Christians 

(251-260) .  231 

III.  The  Provincial  Emperors  (249-268) ;  Gallienus . 255 


THIRTEENTH  PERIOD. 

THE  ILLYRIAN  EMPERORS;  THE  EMPIRE  STRENGTHENED. 

CHAPTER  XCVII. 

CLAUDIUS  AND  AURELIAN  (268-275). 

I.  Claudius  II.  (268-270)  ;  the  First  Invasion  repulsed . 273 

II.  Aurelian  (270-275) .  283 


CHAPTER  XCVIII. 

TACITUS,  PROBUS,  AND  CARUS  (275-284). 

I.  An  Attempt  at  a  Senatorial  Restoration;  Tacitus  and  Florianus  (275,  276)  .  .  324 

II.  Probus  (276-282) .  331 

III.  Carus  (282,  283)  ;  Carinus  and  Numeriauus  (283-2S5) . 341 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


vii 


CHAPTER  XCIX. 

DIOCLETIAN  ;  WARS  AND  ADMINISTRATION. 

PAGE 

I.  Diocletian  and  Maximian ;  the  Dyarchy  (284-293)  ...  .  .  34(‘> 

II.  The  Tetrarchy  ...  . 363 

TIL  Administrative  Reorganization  and  Legislation . 382 


CHAPTER  C. 

IHE  ERA  OF  TIIE  MARTYRS  (303-311). 

1.  The  Edicts  of  Persecution  (303)  . .  408 

II.  Abdication  and  Death  of  Diocletian  (305-313) .  429 


FOURTEENTH  PERIOD. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  'EMPIRE  ;  CONSTANTINE  TO  THEODOSIUS  (3C6-395  A.  D.). 

CHAPTER  CL 

CONSTANTINE,  MAXENTIUS,  AND  LICINIUS  (306-324). 

1.  Six  Emperors  at  one  time . 440 

If.  Defeat  and  Death  of  Maxentius  and  of  Maximin  Daza  (311-313)  ....  452 

III.  Death  of  Licinius  (323)  ;  Constantine  sole  Emperor  .......  463 

CHAPTER  CII. 

THE  RELIGIOUS  POLICY  OF  CONSTANTINE. 

I.  The  Miraculous  Vision;  the  Labarum  ;  the  Worship  of  the  Sun  ....  472 

II  The  Edict  of  Milan  and  its  Results  .  494 

ILL  Coins  of  Constantine ;  Summary  of  his  Religious  Policy  .....  512 


CHAPTER  CIH. 


THE  DONATISTS,  ARIANISM,  AND  THE  NICENE  COUNCIL. 

I  The  New  Churches  .......... 

II.  The  Donatists  .....  ... 

III.  The  Council  of  Nicaea  (325)  ....... 

IV.  Last  Years  of  Constantine  (326-33 7) ;  Foundation  of  Constantinople 


521 

528 

532 

557 


LIST  OF  FULL-PAGE  ENGRAVINGS.1 


VOLUME  VII. 

PAGE 

Ancyra,  view  of . 292 

Antioch,  the  Gates  of  .  . . 558 

Apostles,  the  (bas-relief) . 14 

“  “  (vase) . 32 

Arcli  of  Constantine . 494 

“  “  the  Money-changers . 124 

Ark,  Noah’s  (fresco) . 44 

Basilica  of  Pergamus  (ruins)  ...........  88 

Carpathians,  View  among  . . 182 

Christ,  Byzantine  (mosaic) . 520 

Constantine  Augustus  (statue) . 464 

“  Caesar  “  . .  .  440 

Crypt  of  Pope  Saint  Cornelius  . . .24 

Decius,  the  Emperor  (statue) . 228 

Diocletian’s  Baths  ..............  398 

Gladiatorial  Combats  (mosaic) . 504 

Holy  Sepulchre,  Church  of  the . 572 

Pupienus  (statue) . 161 

Samsivul,  Assyrian  King  (bas-relief)  . . 478 

Santa  Sabina,  Fragment  of  Carved  Door  from  . . 540 

Sarcophagus  of  Alexander  Severus  and  Mamaea . 312 

Constantinian  .  568 

“  from  the  Lateran . .  70 

Seleucia . ^ . .  .  438 

Sixteen  Antique  Columns  (Milan)  . . 368 

Spalato . 422 

Temple  of  Aphaca  (ruins) . 498 

“  “  Minerva  at  Theveste  (present  condition) . 41S 

“  “  the  Sun  at  Rome  (restoration) . .  .  302 

Thermae  at  Bognor,  England  (ruins)  .  358 

“  of  Caracalla  (interior)  . . .  94 

“  “  Diocletian . 394 

Valerian  prostrate  before  Sapor  (bas-relief)  . . 248 

Genealogical  Table  of  the  Second  Flavian  House  . .  6 

Map  for  the  Expeditions  of  Severus,  Galerius,  and  Constantine  in  Italy  ....  446 

Plan  of  Constantinople,  Map  of  the  Bosphorus,  and  Plan  of  the  Palace  ....  570 


1  Facing  the  pages  indicated. 


* 


LIST  OF  COLORED  PLATES  AND  MAPS. 


VOL.  VII. 

Colored  plates.1 


PAGE 

1.  Gold  Collar  found  at  Naix  2 . (Sec.  I.)  Frontispiece 

2.  Saint  Helena  and  Saint  Gregory  Nazianzeu  .....  (Sec.  II.)  “ 

3.  Gold  Coins  of  the  Reign  of  Alexander  Severus  (the  treasure  of  Tarsis)  ...  84 

4.  Portland  Vase . 142 

5.  Consular  Diptych  of  Plavius  Pelix . 392 

6.  Mosaic  Pavement  of  a  Church  (Tyre) . 554 


Colored  JHap.1 


The  Tetrarchate . 370 

1  Facing  the  pages  indicated. 

2  This  collar,  one  of  the  most  precious  jewels  in  the  Cabinet  de  France,  is  composed  of  five  cylinders, 
alternating  with  six  pendants,  twTo  of  the  latter  being  cameos,  and  four  of  them  gold  coins  (of  Hadrian, 
Septimius  Severus,  Caracalla,  and  Geta)  of  great  rarity.  One  of  the  cameos  representing  Julia  Domna  is 
given  in  the  text  on  p.  576  of  Vol.  VI. ;  the  other  is  the  bust  of  the  helmeted  Minerva. 


ALPHABETICAL  INDEX 


TO 

TEXT  ILLUSTRATIONS,  INCLUDING  MAPS  AND  PLANS. 

VOLUME  VII. 


PAGE 

PAGE 

Achilleus,  coin  of . 

374 

Apostles,  the  (painting) 

21 

Aegea  “  “  .... 

497 

Aqueduct  of  Aqua  Virgo  (restoration) 

• 

491 

Aemilianus  (bust) . 

267 

Archer,  Ituraean  (bas-relief) 

197 

“  coins  of 

234 

Argenteus  minutulus  of  Caracalla 

• 

211 

“  laurelled  (coin) 

267 

Artaxerxes,  coin  of  ... 

134 

Aesculapius  (engraved  stone) 

506 

“  (gem)  .... 

• 

133 

“  (statue)  .... 

350 

As  libralis  of  Latium  .... 

208 

Agape,  the  (bas-reliefs)  .  .  .  13,  17 

Asshurnasirpal  (bas-relief),  wearing  a  cross 

478 

“  “  (painting)  .... 

24 

Aui'elian  (bust)  .... 

287 

Alexander,  the  usurper  (coin) 

452 

“  coins  of  .  .  291,  318, 

319 

“  Severus  (bust) 

129 

“  wall  of  (ruins)  . 

• 

293 

“  “  (statue) 

141 

Auxiliary  horseman  (bas-relief)  . 

2S1 

Allectus  (coin) . 

370 

“  Roman  (bas-relief)  . 

• 

240 

Amphitheatre  at  Treves  (ruins)  . 

453 

Annia  Faustina  (bust)  .... 

114 

Bahram  I.,  coin  of  .  . 

304 

Antioch,  coin  of . 

502 

“  II.,  coin  of 

• 

336 

“  the  city  personified  (engraved 

“  “  (intaglio)  . 

343 

stone)  ..... 

61 

Balbiuus  (bust)  .... 

• 

156 

Antoninianus  (debased  coin) 

211 

“  coin  of . 

164 

Antoninus,  medallion  of  . 

382 

Baptism  (painting)  .... 

• 

15 

Apollo  (coin) . 

489 

Basilica  of  Bethlehem  (interior)  . 

573 

“  holding  sceptre  surmounted  by  a 

“  S.  Lorenzo  fuori  le  Mura 

• 

25 

cross  ..... 

479 

Bishop,  a  (painting)  .... 

23 

“  the  Didymaean  (coin) 

416 

Bracelet,  gold,  set  with  coins  . 

• 

274 

“  “  “  bas-relief  from  tem¬ 

“  “  (Syrian) 

488 

ple  of  . 

417 

Bridge,  Roman,  near  Aphaca  . 

• 

498 

“  “  “  (statuette) 

514 

Buckle,  an  ivory  (6th  century)  . 

572 

“  “  “  statue  from  temple 

of 

418 

Calixtus,  Pope  (painting) 

• 

43 

“  “  “  fragments  of  en¬ 

Candelabrum  from  Hadrian’s  Villa 

215 

tablature  from 

“  “  House  of  Diomedes, 

temple  of 

419 

Pompeii  . 

• 

216 

“  sanctuary  of,  on  an  island  in  the 

Caracalla  (busts)  . 

75,  79 

Rhvndacus  (present  condition) 

242 

“  (cameo)  .... 

• 

83 

<e  the  same  (restored) 

242 

“  coins  of  .  78,  80,  86, 

91, 

211 

xiv  ALPHABETICAL  INDEX  TO  TEXT  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

Caracalla  offering  to  Mars  a  Victory  (gem)  93 


“  apotheosis  of  (coin)  ...  97 

“  caricatures  of  (statuettes)  .  90 

Thermae  of  (restoration)  .  .  93 

Carausius,  coins  of  .  .  .  359 

Carinus,  M.  Am.  (bust)  .  .  .  344 

“  and  Numerianus  (medallion)  .  342 

Carus,  coin  of  .....  341 

“  intaglio . 342 

Castor  and  Pollux  (bas-relief)  .  .  566 

Cataphractus  (bas-relief)  .  .  .  379 

Cavalier,  Roman  (statue)  .  .  .  289 

Centurion  and  his  wife,  sarcophagus  of  160 

Chase  of  the  wild  boar  (bas-relief)  .  347 

Christ,  the  (Byzantine  cameo)  .  .524 

with  radiate  crown  (painted  glass)  487 

“  nativity,  of  (bas-relief)  .  .  12 

“  on  the  cross  (illumination)  .  540 

Churches,  two  (bas-relief)  .  .  .522 

Circus,  games  of  the  (mosaic)  .  .  205 

Clasp,  gold . 441 

Claudius  II.  (Gothicus),  gold  coin  of,  set 

in  a  bracelet  .  .  274 

“  “  coins  of  .  .  206,  211,  282 

Column  commemorating  victories  of  Pro¬ 
bus  ......  334 

Commodus,  medallion  of .  .  .  .  187 

Concordia  Augustorum  (coin)  .  .  74 

Congiurium,  coin  commemorative  of.  .  139 


Conical  stones  representing  vMelkarth- 


Baal . 213 

Constautia,  coin  of  .  .  .  .  .470 

Constantine  (agate  bust)  .  .  .  456 

“  coins  of  .  468,  471,  512,  520 

wearing  casque  with  Christian 
monogram  (intaglio)  .  .531 

Arch  of  (bas-reliefs  and  stat¬ 
ues)  .  .  .  515,  516 

“  Basilica  of  (restoration)  .  523 

“  Baths  of,  at  Rome  (ruins)  .  558 

“  II.  (gold  coin)  .  .  .  574 

Constantinople,  coin  of  513 

Constantius  Chlorus  (bust)  .  .  .  364 

“  “  (coin)  .  .  444 

“  and  Maximianus  (coin)  .  365 

“  II.  (gold  coin) .  .  .  574 

Copper  coin  of  third  century  .  .  .  209 

Crispus,  coin  of  .  .  .  .  .  559 

Crosses .  476,  477 

Cubicula  (burial  vaults)  .  .  .  65 

Cutler’s  shop  (bas-relief)  .  .  .  399 

Cybele  (bust)  .  .  ...  284 

Cyprian  and  Laurence,  SS.  (painting)  .  227 


PAGE 

Dacian,  young  (statue)  .  .  .  181 

Deiphobos,  or  Pighting  Hero  .  .  .  31S 

Decius,  Trajan,  coins  of  .  .  224,  476 

(medallion)  .  .  .  222 

Decumatian  Lands,  Lines  of  Defence  (map)  185 
Denarius  of  40  b.  c.  .  .  .  .  209 

“  “  Nero  ....  210 

Diadumenianus  (bust)  .  .  .  .98 

(Antoninus)  coin  of  96 

Diocletian  (bust)  .  .  .  .  .353 

“  coins  of  .  .  403,  404,  433,  438 

“  (medallions)  .  .  346,  355,  448 

Divinities  of  the  Seven  Days,  on  bracelet  488 
Dragon-bearer  (bas-relief)  .  .  .  .  30S 

Dromedary,  loaded  (bas-relief)  .  .  193 

Egyptian  barque  (painting)  .  .  .376 

Elagabalus  (bust)  ....  104 

“  coins  of  .  .  102,  107,  111 

“  (statue)  .  .  .  .  116 

Elephants  harnessed  (engraved  stone)  .  312 
Emesa,  the  god  of  (coin)  .  103,  107,  111 


Emperor,  laurel-crowned  (equestrian  statue)  162 
Ephesus,  the  temple  of  (coin  of  Hadrian)  262 
Etruscilla,  wife  of  Decius  (medallion)  .  222 


Eaun  (statue  of  Rosso  Antico )  .  .  .212 

Eausta,  the  Empress  (medallion)  .  .  559 

Eield-laborers  (engraved  stone)  .  .  399 

Elora,  the  Earnese  (statue)  .  .  95 

Elorianus,  M.  Aninus  (medallion)  .  .  330- 

Fossor,  a  (painting)  .  .  .  .  570 

Gallienus  (bust) . 249 

“  coins  of  237,  263 

“  medallions  of  .  .  .  235,  238 

“  triumphal  arch  of  .  .  257 

Gallus,  C.  Vibius  Trebonianus  (bust)  .  231 
Ganymede  as  an  ape  (on  a  lamp)  .  214 

Gaza,  coin  of  .  .  .  .  .  .502 

Genio  Caesaris  (coin)  ....  481 

Germans  concealed  among  rushes  (bas- 

relief)  . 147 

Geta  in  the  paludamentum  (bust)  .  76 

Gladiator  retiarius  (mosaic)  .  .  .505 

Gladiators  on  horseback  (painting)  .  315 

Glass  cup  representing  the  Great  Circus  .  358 
“  disk,  fragment  of  425 

Gordian  I.  (bust)  .....  151 
“  “  inscription  of  .  .  .  153 

“  II.  (bust) . 152 

“  III.  (bust)  ....  165 

“  coins  of  155,  169 


ALPHABETICAL  INDEX  TO  TEXT 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


xv 


PAGE 

PAGE 

Gordians,  Thermae  of  the  (ruins) 

177 

Maxcntius  (coin) 

451 

“  the  two  (coin)  . 

155 

circus  of  (ruins) 

45  S 

“  the  tomb  of  the  (ruins) 

154 

eldest  son’s  tomb  (restoration) 

460 

Goths  led  into  slavery  (bas-relief)  . 

2S0 

Maxim ian  (coin)  . 

451 

Graffito  (crucilicd  figure  with  an  ass’s  head) 

47 

Hercules  (medallion)  . 

355 

(statues)  .  .  .  . 

361 

418 

Head-band  of  gold  .  .  •  __  . 

187 

lomb  of  (coin) 

450 

Helena,  the  Empress  (gold  coin) 

513 

Maximin  (bust) 

157 

Hercules  killing  Diomcdcs 

202 

coins  of 

14S, 

1S6 

“  Labors  of  (bas-relief)  . 

39S 

(statue)  .  .  .  . 

146 

Hero  fighting . 

31S 

Daza  (coin)  . 

434 

Hippodrome,  Constantinople 

564 

Maximius,  Caesar  (coin) 

147 

Hormisdas  (coin)  . 

575 

“  (statue) 

140 

Horseman,  Persian  (intaglio) 

170 

Medusa  (carving  on  sardonyx) 

144 

“  Roman  (bas-relief) 

102 

Mercury  (engraved  stone)  . 

485 

Hostilianus  (coin)  ... 

233 

Minerva  (statue)  .... 

505 

Miracles,  the  (bas-relief) 

40 

Jerusalem,  neighborhood  of  (map)  . 

571 

Mil  lira  (statuette)  .... 

4S3 

Jesus  between  two  apostles  (bas-relief) 

2 

Monet  a  rcstitida  (coin) 

123 

Jewels  from  the  Cimmerian  Bosphorus 

241 

Money-changer  (painted  glass) 

400 

Julia  Aquilia  Severa  Augusta  (coin) 

113 

Monogram,  the  Christian,  on  coin  of 

Tra- 

“  Cornelia  Paula  (statue)  . 

113 

jan  Decius  .... 

470 

“  Maesa  (bust)  .... 

115 

Mosaic  from  church  in  Bethlehem  . 

572 

“  “  (gold  coin)  .... 

101 

the  Thermae  of  Caracalla 

94 

“  Mamaca  (bust)  .... 

121 

“  “  Tyre  .... 

55  4 

Augusta  (coins)  110 

1  13 

Mount  Amanus,  passes  of  (map)  . 

300 

as  Venus  Pudica  (statue) 

137 

“  Soemias  Augusta  (coin)  . 

1  IS 

Narses,  coin  of  ... 

380 

Julian,  the  Usurper,  coin  of 

351 

Nicaca,  Gates  of 

539 

Jupiter,  Pheidian  coin  . 

566 

Nicomedeia,  coin  of  ... 

. 

416 

Labarum,  the . psQ 

on  a  coin  of  Constantine  520 

Laelianus  (gold  coin)  ....  261 

Lamp,  antique  ....  211 
Christian  .  11 

Lazarus,  raising  of  (gilt  glass)  .  515 

Legionary  (bas-reliefs)  .  .  1S9,  101 

Library  of  the  Later  Empire  (bas-relief)  .  100 
Licinianus  Caesar  (gold  coin) 

Licinius,  Triumph  of  (cameo) 

Lunus,  the  god  (gem) 

Macrianus,  coin  of  . 

the  younger  (gold  coin) 

Macrinus  (bust) 

coin  of 

(statue)  ... 

Marble  head  from  Diocletian's  palace 
Nicomedeia 

Marius,  Gallic  Emperor  (coin) 

Vf  “  (engraved  stone) 

•'t^rtimanus  (coin) 


561 

162 

02 

260 

261 

100 

97 

09 

423 

265 

265 

470 


Odenathus  (engraved  stone) 

253 

Odcssus,  coin  of 

.  223 

Ormuzd  (annulary  seal) 

134 

Otacilia,  the  Empress  (coins) 

.  173,  178 

Pacatianus,  coin  of 

256 

Palmyra,  ruins  of 

.  305,  300 

Pcrgamus,  coin  of 

SS 

Persecution,  scene  of  (fresco)  . 

.  50 

Persian  Horseman  (intaglio) 

170 

Philadelphia  (coin)  . 

.  74 

Philip  I.  (bust)  . 

171 

coins  of  . 

172,  175,  1 7S 

and  family  (coins) 

173,  178 

“  II.  aureus  of  . 

.  175 

(bust)  . 

1 76 

Phoenix  with  nimbus  (coins  of  rJ 

Vajan)  .  383 

Pompcy’s  Pillar  (Alexandria) 

377 

Postumus,  coins  of  . 

.  25S,  259 

Priestess  of  Cybcle,  her  jewels 

241 

Probus  (bust) 

.  333 

“  coin  of  . 

331 

XVI 


ALPHABETICAL  INDEX  TO  TEXT  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Probus  the  Emperor  (medallion) 

Pupienus  (bust)  ..... 

“  coins  of  . 

Quaternio  (coin  of  copper  alloy)  . 

Qtties  Augusta  rum  (medal) 

Quietus  (coin)  ..... 
Quiuarius  (bronze  coin)  .... 

“  (gold  coin)  .... 

Quint  illus,  coins  of  .  .  .  .270, 

Quintus  Ilcrennius  Etruscus  (coin) 

llegalianus,  coin  of 

Resurrection  of  the  daughter  of  Jairus 
(bas-relief)  ...... 

Rhine,  t  he  (coin)  .... 

Roman  Gate  at  Treves  .... 

“  vase  (bronze)  .... 

Saint  George  with  the  head  of  a  sparrow- 
hawk  (bas-relief)  .... 
Saint  Helena,  sarcophagus  of 
“  John,  Lateran  (interior) 

Sallust ia  Orbiana  (coin) 

Salona,  gate  of  Diocletian’s  palace  . 

“  temple  of  Jupiter  at  (restoration) 
Salonina,  the  Empress  (bust) 

“  the  Empress,  coin  of 
Saloninus,  or  young  Roman  (bust) 

“  Caesar  (medallion)  . 

Sapor  I.,  coin  of  .... 

“  (engraved  stone) 

“  (intaglio)  .... 

Sarcophagus,  bas-relief  from 
Scythian  coin  .... 

Septimius  Severus,  arch  of  (coin) 

Sepulchre,  the  Holy  (carving) 

Severina,  the  Empress  (coin)  . 

Severus  11.  (coin)  .... 
Shepherd,  the  Good  (intaglio)  . 

“  “  and  the  Twelve  Apos¬ 

tles  (bas-relief)  .... 
Shepherd  the  Good  dividing  the  Sheep 
from  the  Goats  ..... 
Sixtus,  Pope,  and  the  Deacon  Laurence 

(painting) . 

Sleep,  or  Death,  Genius  of  (statue)  . 
Sparrow-hawk,  Roman  with  head  of 
(statue) 

“  “  Saint  George  with  head  of 

(bas-relief)  . 

Straits  of  Hercules  (map)  . 

Sun,  the  (bas-relief) 


TAGE 

330 

15S 

103 

235 
131 
261 
224 
210 
2  S3 
223 

26/ 


260 

36S 

300 


174 

.-7-  I 
Oil  j 

502  | 
125 
349  I 
436 
239 

235 
256 
25  S 
10S 
170 
215 
522 
187 

77 

572 

317 

434 

527 

55 

73 

251 

5 

174 

174 

236 
484 


PAGE 


Sun,  the  (coins  of  Constantine)  . 

4S6 

“  “  (marble  medallion)  . 

.  316 

“  “  the  radiate  (coin  of  Trajan) 

487 

Tacitus,  the  Emperor  (medallion)  . 

.  327 

Talismanic  medals 

S4 

Tempest  (ancient  engraving)  . 

.  87 

Temple  of  Diana  at  Palmyra  (ruins) 

.  305 

“  “  Rome  (medallion) 

.  439 

“  “  the  Sun  at  Palmyra  (ruins) 

307 

Tetricus,  coin  of 

255,  313 

“  the  younger  (medallion) 

314 

Theodora  (coin)  .... 

365 

Thermae  of  Caracalla  (restoration) 

93 

“  “  “  mosaic  fragment  from  94 

“  “  the  Gordians  (ruins) 

.  177 

Thysdrus,  gallery  in  the  amphitheatre 

of  150 

Tomus,  coin  of  . 

278 

Tranquillina,  the  Empress  (statue)  . 

.  166 

“  coin  of  . 

167 

Trcbonianus  (coin) 

.  233 

Trajan,  coins  of  (the  phoenix  with  nimbus)  3S3 

Trooper,  Roman  (bas-relief) 

277 

Tutcla,  altar  of  ... 

.  266 

Valeria  Augusta  (coins) 

365,  437 

Valerian,  coins  of  . 

235,  244 

Vases,  silver  .  .  .  254, 

317,  527 

Vaults,  burial  ( cubicula ) 

.  65 

Venus,  the  Syrian  (engraved  gold  ring 

)  506 

“  “  “  lamenting  Adonis  (stat- 

uette)  .... 

500 

Victoria  Got/iica  (medal) 

.  409 

Victorians  (coin) 

263 

“  (medallion)  . 

.  264 

Victory,  a  (statue) 

110 

Vintage  scene  (bas-relief) 

.  07 

Virgin,  the  (fresco) 

18 

Volusianus  (bust)  .... 

.  232 

“  (coin) 

233 

Waballath  Augustus,  coin  of 

.  296 

“  and  Aurelian  (coin)  . 

29  S 

Wagons,  provision  and  baggage  (bas-relief)  16S 

“  for  transportation  of  baggage 

(painting)  ..... 

.  190 

"Warrior,  dead  Persian  (statue)  . 

13S 

"Woman  at  prayer  (painting)  . 

.  54 

Zana,  ruins  of 

106 

Zenobia  (bust)  .... 

.  297 

“  (coin)  .... 

295 

“  palace,  ruins  of  . 

306.  309 

HISTORY  OF  ROME. 


ELEVENTH  PERIOD. 


THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES  (ISO-235  a.  d. 


( CONTINUED .) 


CHAPTER  XC.  ( Continued .) 

THE  OHHECH  AT  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  THIRD  CENTURY. 

II.  —  Transformation  of  the  Messianic  Idea. 

p 

IN  the  midst  of  the  confusion  of  systems  and  rites,  Christianity 
had  already,  in  the  time  of  Severus,  made  for  itself  a  large 
place.  Springing  up  in  a  country  for  centuries  condemned  to 
every  misery,  it  arose  at  once  out  of  despair  and  hope.  Since 
the  captivity,  the  Jews  had  always  expected  the  mighty  hand 
which  should  restore  the  house  of  David.  But  in  face  of  this 
Roman  Empire,  which  was  to  them  impregnable,  it  was  inevitable 
that  the  Messianic  idea  should  undergo  a  transformation.  Cursing 
the  present,  they  had  looked  for  the  future  in  the  one  direction 
only  by  which,  as  it  now  seemed  to  them,  this  future  could 
arrive,  —  towards  the  heaven  which  should  raise  up  a  Messiah,  the 
Sa\  iour  of  the  race.  The  earthly  conqueror,  vainly  expected,  had 
gi\en  place  to  the  conqueror  of  souls;  the  New  Jerusalem  became 
a  celestial  Jerusalem. 

h  p  to  this  time,  humanity  had  honored  its  gods  with  a  selfish 
Uo1'  ulb  ln  the  hope  of  obtaining  worldly  advantages  from  them, 
<»r  of  appeasing  their  anger;  now,  an  ideal  of  justice,  of  goodness, 
1  of  lo\e  being  offered  to  it,  a  new  sentiment  —  the  love  of 

VOL.  VII. 


1 


THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  ISO  TO  235  a.  i>. 


o 


God  —  sprang  up  in  the  human  heart.  This  God  had  been  revealed 
to  the  faith  of  the  lowly  when,  in  place  of  a  promise  of  national 
triumph,  they  accepted  a  hope  of  spiritual  life ;  and  this  faith 
was  destined  to  win  even  the  proudest  natures,  showing  them  the 
desired  Mediator  in  the  Divine  Man,  not  ascending  from  earth  to 
heaven  like  the  Olympians,  with  all  the  stains  of  earth  upon 
him,  but  coming  down  from  heaven  to  earth  with  a  celestial  purity 
and  an  infinite  strength  of  love.  The  heathen  had  long  sought 
a  mediator  between  the  Creator  and  the  creature,  they  had  even 
seemed  to  have  a  glimpse  of  such  a  being ;  but  never  under 


JESUS  BETWEEN  TWO  APOSTLES  IN  THE  ATTITUDE  OF  ADORATION.1 


this  aspect  of  Jesus,  who  is  so  divine  because  so  human,  —  a  God 
dying  upon  the  Cross  to  redeem  the  world ;  the  Mediator  who  is 
at  the  same  time  the  Redeemer.  From  a  doctrinal  point  of  view 
the  whole  of  the  Christian  religion  is  embodied  in  this  conception ; 
outside  of  this  are  only  means  of  action  to  apply  the  principle 
and  develop  its  consequences. 

The  masters  of  the  Roman  world  gained  nothing  by  the  trans¬ 
formation  of  Jewish  ideas  into  Christian,  resulting  from  this  new 
conception  of  the  expected  Messiah.  The  prophets  had  announced 
to  all  the  mighty  that  they  should  fall  under  the  sword  of  Israel ; 


1  From  a  sarcophagus  at  Arles,  which  serves  as  altar-front  in  the  church  of  St.  Tro¬ 
phimus.  Christ,  seated  upon  a  scabellum ,  his  head  surmounted  by  the  cruciform  monogram, 
is  giving  his  law  (in  the  form  of  an  unrolled  volume)  to  the  two  Apostles.  Cf.  E.  Lc  Riant, 
Etudes  sur  les  sarcopJiages  de  la  cille  d’ Arles,  pi.  xxvii.  and  p.  44. 


Till-:  CHUECII  AT  BEGIXXIXG  OF  TRIED  CENTURY. 


O 

O 


tho  Sib vl  and  Saint  John  condemned  them  to  perish,  with  their  gods 
of  wood  and  all  their  sensual  delights,  in  the  flames  kindled  by  the 
divine  wrath,  while  those  who  overcame  the  powers  of  darkness 
rvceived  the  promise  of  immortality.1  Yet  in  a  political  point  of 
view  this  promise  disengaged  Christianity,  in  the  first  phase  of  its 
existence,  from  all  earthly  ambition.  It  would  seem  that,  spreading, 
with  its  principles  of  human  equality  and  community  of  goods, 
among  the  destitute  classes,  it  must  have  introduced  a  spirit  of  re¬ 
volt.  But  bv  a  fatal  exaggeration  of  the  teaching  of  indifference  in 
which,  for  four  centuries,  till  the  philosophies  had  united,2  the  prim¬ 
itive  Church  added  to  its  fundamental  dogma  of  redemption  a  con¬ 
tempt  for  the  present  life, — which,  however,  had  its  share  in  the 
redemption  of  humanity.  If  this  was  not  the  sentiment  of  its  first 
hour,  we  shall  see  that  it  was,  at  least  to  many,  that  of  its  second. 

Pre-occupied  with  heaven,  and  the  rewards  in  reserve  for  his 
faith,  the  Christian  did  not  envy  the  worldlings  their  riches 
and  their  enjoyments.  He  left  the  things  of  earth  as  he  found 
them,  because  existence  here  below  was  to  him  only  a  life  of 
trial,  the  earliest  termination  of  which  would  be  the  best  ;  while 
the  other,  that  beyond  the  tomb,  was  the  true  life,  and  ardently 
desired.  “  Let  him  fear  to  die  whom  hell  awaits,"  said  Saint  Cyprian  ; 
i;  but  the  Christian,  inmate  of  a  house  whose  walls  are  tottering 
and  whose  roof  is  trembling,  passenger  on  board  a  vessel  which 
the  waves  are  about  to  engulf,  why  should  he  not  bless  the  hand 
which,  hastening  his  departure,  restores  him  to  heaven,  his  own 
country?”3  Christianity  did  not,  then,  change  the  conditions  of 
life,  but  it  changed  the  conditions  of  death  ;  and  this  new  solution 
of  the  terrible  problem  was  of  itself  the  greatest  of  revolutions. 

Notwithstanding  the  temptation,  which  always  exists,  to  demand 
of  death  its  secret,  the  ancients  had  contented  themselves  with 


1  Lactantius  (Div.  Inst.  iii.  12)  terminates  his  search  for  the  sovereign  good  by  these 
"ords:  Id  voro  nihil  altnd  potest  cssc  nuimi  invnorlalitfis. 

Indifference  to  civ  ic  duties,  and  disdain  fur  worldly  good,  were  the  lessons  of  the  Xew 
Academy  and  Zeno,  of  Pyrrho  and  Epicurus.  ••  Christianity  will  adopt  as  its  own  all  these  sen¬ 
timents  of  aversion;  it  will  show  even  more  disdain  for  political  action;  it  will  preach  indif- 
lv  re  nee  with  greater  ardor,  and  it  will  crown  all  its  contempt  by  despising  the  very  philosophy 
'Rich  had  already  taught  contempt  for  till  else:  and  the  more  thoroughly  to  withdraw  the 
-oul  from  earth,  the  Christian  religion  will  offer  to  humanity  only  that  good  which  is  not  of 
this  world”  (Martha,  Lucrlcc,  p.  20u). 

De  Mortalitutc,  20. 


4 


THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  ISO  TO  235  a.  u. 


admitting,  without  much  argument  on  the  subject,  a  vague  existence 
beyond  the  grave.1  In  those  old  cltyps  life  was  rude ;  to  lose  it  was 
often  to  gain  rest  and  peace,  —  requiem  aeternam  is  the  language  of 
the  Church  to  this  day.  It  was  the  time  when  Greece  represented 
death  under  the  form  of  a  beautiful  sleeping  boy,  whose  drooping 
hand  held  an  inverted  torch.  But  mind  becomes  developed ;  con¬ 
science  is  enlightened,  and  projects  gleams  of  light  into  the  darkness 
of  the  tomb.  Thither  men  are  followed  bv  the  same  justice  which 
society,  in  becoming  civilized,  seeks  to  establish  upon  the  earth. 
Rewards  for  the  good  are  placed  there,  and  chastisements  for  the 
wicked,  as  is  the  case  in  the  forum  before  the  praetor ;  and  that  judg¬ 
ment  of  the  dead  which  Homer  reserved  for  heroes  is  extended  to 
all  men.  The  city  of  shades  becomes  populous  and  civilized,  like 
the  city  of  men.  The  Elysian  life  is  submitted  to  the  moral  laws 
of  recompense,  and  its  pleasures,  depicted  on  funeral  monuments, 
continue  those  of  the  life  on  earth.  It  is  to  this  point  of  equality 
between  the  two  existences  that  the  Graeco-Roman  philosophy 
had  brought  the  •  eschatology  of  the  pagans. 

But  the  movement,  once  begun,  does  not  stop.  The  development 
of  religious  thought  pursues  its  course,  and  the  equilibrium  between 
the  two  existences  is  destroyed:  heaven  prevails  over  earth,  the 
future  life  over  the  present;  the  latter  condemned  and  cursed,  the 
former  glorified  and  awaited  with  impatience. 

After  having  blindly  sought  for  the  Divinity  in  the  religions  of 
Greece,  Phrygia,  Egypt,  and  Phoenicia,  the  Romans  had  seen  corn- 
ins:  to  them  a  new  God  who  went  to  the  hearts  of  the  refined 
and  the  afflicted.  There  were  many  souls  whom  the  gross  natural¬ 
ism  of  the  state  religion  offended ;  and  in  spite  of  the  miti¬ 
gation  of  servitude,  slavery  was  still  to  this  society  a  bleeding 

1  To  the  present  day,  man  has  been  aide  to  find  but  three  solutions  to  the  problem  of 
death.  The  soul,  the  vital  spark,  returns  and  loses  itself  in  the  centre  of  universal  life:  this  is 
the  Xirvdna  of  India,  and  indifference  to  personal  existence:  or  it  goes  to  enjoy  with  delight 
the  same  pleasures  which  it  has  possessed  upon  earth:  this  is  the  love  of  physical  life,  the 
Graeco-Roman  and  Mohammedan  solution;  or  else,  in  an  eternal  rapture,  it  will  contemplate 
God  face  to  face:  this  is  divine  love,  but  also  a  sort  of  annihilation  in  God.  Science  has  a 
different  dream  :  since  nothing  is  lost,  thought  must  subsist  as  force ;  separated  from  the  body, 
—  its  imperfect  organ,  —  it  will  endure,  and  intelligence  will  arrive  at  the  knowledge  of  all 
things.  This  is  for  humanity  that  which  takes  place  in  the  individual  :  the  need  of  knowing 
succeeding  the  need  of  loving.  But  perfect  science  is  the  perfect  knowledge  of  the  true, 
the  good,  and  the  beautiful,  —  that  is,  of  God  himself:  and  unto  that  he  will  attain  in  the  higher 
life  who  shall  have  made  the  greatest  effort  to  approach  to  it  in  the  present  life. 


THE  CHURCH  AT  BEGINNING  OF  THIRD  CENTURY.  3 

« 

the  Sibyl  and  Saint  John  condemned  them  to  perish,  with  their  gods 
of  wood  and  all  their  sensual  delights,  in  the  flames  kindled  by  the 
divine  wrath,  while  those  who  overcame  the  powers  of  darkness 
received  the  promise  of  immortality.1  Yet  in  a  political  point  of 
view  this  promise  disengaged  Christianity,  in  the  first  phase  of  its 
existence,  from  all  earthly  ambition.  It  would  seem  that,  spreading, 
with  its  principles  of  human  equality  and  community  of  goods, 
among  the  destitute  classes,  it  must  have  introduced  a  spirit  of  re¬ 
volt.  But  by  a  fatal  exaggeration  of  the  teaching  of  indifference  in 
which,  for  four  centuries,  all  the  philosophies  had  united,2  the  prim¬ 
itive  Church  added  to  its  fundamental  dogma  of  redemption  a  con¬ 
tempt  for  the  present  life,  —  which,  however,  had  its  share  in  the 
redemption  of  humanity.  If  this  was  not  the  sentiment  of  its  first 
hour,  we  shall  see  that  it  was,  at  least  to  many,  that  of  its  second. 

Pre-occupied  with  heaven,  and  the  rewards  in  reserve  for  his 
faith,  the  Christian  did  not  envy  the  worldlings  their  riches 
and  their  enjoyments.  He  left  the  things  of  earth  as  he  found 
them,  because  existence  here  below  was  to  him  only  a  life  of 
trial,  the  earliest  termination  of  which  would  be  the  best ;  while 
the  other,  that  beyond  the  tomb,  was  the  true  life,  and  ardently 
desired.  “  Let  him  fear  to  die  whom  hell  awaits,”  said  Saint  Cyprian  ; 
“  but  the  Christian,  inmate  of  a  house  whose  walls  are  tottering 
and  whose  roof  is  trembling,  passenger  on  board  a  vessel  which 
the  waves  are  about  to  engulf,  why  should  he  not  bless  the  hand 
which,  hastening  his  departure,  restores  him  to  heaven,  his  own 
country?”3  Christianity  did  not,  then,  change  the  conditions  of 
life,  but  it  changed  the  conditions  of  death ;  and  this  new  solution 
of  the  terrible  problem  was  of  itself  the  greatest  of  revolutions. 

Notwithstanding  the  temptation,  which  always  exists,  to  demand 
of  death  its  secret,  the  ancients  had  contented  themselves  with 


1  Lactantius  (Div.  Inst.  iii.  12)  terminates  his  search  for  the  sovereign  good  by  these 
words :  Id  vero  nihil  aliud,  potest  esse  quam  immortalitas. 

2  Indifference  to  civic  duties,  and  disdain  for  worldly  good,  were  the  lessons  of  the  New 
Academy  and  Zeno,  of  Pyrrho  and  Epicurus.  “  Christianity  will  adopt  as  its  own  all  these  sen¬ 
timents  of  aversion;  it  will  show  even  more  disdain  for  political  action;  it  will  preach  indif¬ 
ference  with  greater  ardor,  and  it  will  crown  all  its  contempt  by  despising  the  very  philosophy 
hcc?l  pad  already  taught  contempt  for  all  else;  and  the  more  thoroughly  to  withdraw  the 
the  cat,ni  earth,  the  Christian  religion  will  offer  to  humanity  only  that  good  which  is  not  of 
dead  who  ha^v[artha,  Lucrece,  p.  20o,. 

2  Oxford,  Hate,  25. 


4 


THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


admitting,  without  much  argument  on  the  subject,  a  vague  existence 
beyond  the  grave.1  In  those  old  days  life  was  rude ;  to  lose  it  was 
often  to  gain  rest  and  peace, — requiem  aeternam  is  the  language  of 
the  Church  to  this  day.  It  was  the  time  when  Greece  represented 
death  under  the  form  of  a  beautiful  sleeping  boy,  whose  drooping 
hand  held  an  inverted  torch.  But  mind  becomes  developed ;  con¬ 
science  is  enlightened,  and  projects  gleams  of  light  into  the  darkness 
of  the  tomb.  Thither  men  are  followed  by  the  same  justice  which 
society,  in  becoming  civilized,  seeks  to  establish  upon  the  earth. 
Rewards  for  the  good  are  placed  there,  and  chastisements  for  the 
wicked,  as  is  the  case  in  the  forum  before  the  praetor ;  and  that  judg¬ 
ment  of  the  dead  which  Homer  reserved  for  heroes  is  extended  to 
all  men.  The  city  of  shades  becomes  populous  and  civilized,  like 
the  city  of  men.  The  Elysian  life  is  submitted  to  the  moral  laws 
of  recompense,  and  its  pleasures,  depicted  on  funeral  monuments, 
continue  those  of  the  life  on  earth.  It  is  to  this  point  of  equality’ 
between  the  two  existences  that  the  Graeco-Roman  philosophy 
had  brought  the  eschatology  of  the  pagans. 

But  the  movement,  once  begun,  does  not  stop.  The  development 
of  religious  thought  pursues  its  course,  and  the  equilibrium  between 
the  two  existences  is  destroyed :  heaven  prevails  over  earth,  the 
future  life  over  the  present';  the  latter  condemned  and  cursed,  the 
former  glorified  and  awaited  with  impatience. 

After  having  blindly  sought  for  the  Divinity  in  the  religions  of 
Greece,  Phrygia,  Egypt,  and  Phoenicia,  the  Romans  had  seen  com¬ 
ing  to  them  a  new  God  who  went  to  the  hearts  of  the  refined 
and  the  afflicted.  There  were  many  souls  whom  the  gross  natural¬ 
ism  of  the  state  religion  offended ;  and  in  spite  of  the  miti¬ 
gation  of  servitude,  slavery  was  still  to  this  society  a  bleeding 


1  To  the  present  day,  man  has  been  able  to  find  but  three  solutions  to  the  problem  of 
death.  The  soul,  the  vital  spark,  returns  and  loses  itself  in  the  centre  of  universal  life  :  this  is 
the  Nirvana  of  India,  and  indifference  to  personal  existence;  or  it  goes  to  enjoy  with  delight 
the  same  pleasures  which  it  has  possessed  upon  earth :  this  is  the  love  of  physical  life,  the 
Graeco-Roman  and  Mohammedan  solution ;  or  else,  in  an  eternal  rapture,  it  will  contemplate 
God  face  to  face:  this  is  divine  love,  but  also  a  sort  of  annihilation  in  God.  Science  has  a 
different  dream :  since  nothing  is  lost,  thought  must  subsist  as  force ;  separated  from  the  body, 
—  its  imperfect  organ,  —  it  will  endure,  and  intelligence  will  arrive  at  the  knowledge  of  aljj 
things.  This  is  for  humanity  that  which  takes  place  in  the  individual ;  the  need  of  kno^ 
succeeding  the  need  of  loving.  But  perfect  science  is  the  pc-^ect  knowledge  of^^ 
the  good,  and  the  beautiful,  —  that  is,  of  God  himself ;  Wl  unto  that  he  will  atiair 
life  who  shall  have  made  the  greatest  effort  to  approach  to  it  in  the  present  lifcl 


THE  CHURCH  AT  BEGINNING  OF  THIRD  CENTURY. 


5 


wound  in  its  side.  And  now,  behold  hope  is  brought  to  these  “  des¬ 


perate  classes,”  as  Pliny  calls 
them ; 1  but  not  that  of  earth. 
The  old  abode  which  sunlight 
and  life  made  once  so  beau¬ 
tiful,  has  become  a  vale  of 
tears  which  the  divine  venge¬ 
ance  is  about  to  fill  with 
lamentations ;  and  the  habita¬ 
tion  of  the  dead,  formerly  so 
chill  and  sombre,  is  now  the  ce¬ 
lestial  Jerusalem,  radiant  with 
youth,  brightness,  and  love, 
where  pious  souls  shall  dwell 
eternally.  “  The  sun  shall  be 
darkened,  and  the  moon  shall 
not  give  her  light,  and  the 
stars  shall  fall  from  heaven. 

.  .  .  They  shall  see  the  Son 
of  man  coming  on  the  clouds 
of  heaven  with  power  and 
great  glory.  And  he  shall 
send  forth  his  angels  .  .  .  and 
they  shall  gather  together  his 
elect  from  the  four  winds, 
from  one  end  of  heaven  to 
the  other.  .  .  .  Verily  I  say 
unto  you,  This  generation  shall 
be  accomplished.” 


not  pass  away,  till  all  these  things 


1  .  .  .  Coli  rura  ab  ergastulis  pessimum  est  et  quidquid  agitur  a  desper antibus.  We  liave 
seen  what  was  the  condition  of  the  humiliores,  and  for  the  immense  class  of  the  freedmen, 
the  ordinance  of  Commodus.  (See  Vol.  VI.  p.  559,  note  1.)  Tn  the  middle  of  the  third  century 
Origen  regarded  as  an  honor  to  Christianity  the  reproach  which  Celsus  and  the  pagan  of  the 
Octavius  made  against  it,  —  of  recruiting  itself  among  men  of  low  condition.  “Yes,”  said  he, 
“  we  go  to  all  those  disdained  by  philosophy,  —  to  the  woman,  to  the  slave,  even  to  the  robber.” 
In  doing  so,  the  Christians  were  faithful  to  the  pure  doctrine  of  the  Master,  who  was  so 
■great  because  he  loved  the  little  ones.  In  the  fourth  century  Saint  Jerome  said  again : 
Ecclesia  Christi  de  vili  plebecula  conqregata  est  {Opera,  iv.  289,  ed.  of  1693).  The  paintings  of 
the  catacombs  prove  the  very  humble  condition  of  the  artists  who  executed  them,  and  of  the 
dead  who  had  ordered  them. 

2  Oxford,  Alarm.  Oxon.  pi.  15.  See  Vol.  V.  p.  559,  the  Genius  of  Death  of  the  Louvre. 


6 


THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


The  generation  passed,  and  the  earth  was  not  destroyed.  But 
the  Sibyl  and  the  prophets  of  the  Apocalypse  constantly  renewed 
the  fearful  menace,  which  was  a  promise  of  endless  torments  for 
the  haughty  masters  of  the  earth,  and  of  eternal  bliss  for  their 
victims.1  “  These  unfortunate  men,”  says  a  writer  of  the  time, 
speaking  of  the  Christians,  “  fancying  to  themselves  that  they  are 
immortal,  despise  punishments,  and  voluntarily  give  themselves  up 
to  death.”2  The  love  of  heaven  led  them  to  hatred  of  earth;  they 
henceforth  had  before  their  eyes  only  “  God  and  Eternity,  with 
their  tremendous  majesty.” 

The  true  character  of  the  revolution  which  took  place  in  the 
obscure  depths  of  Roman  society  is  found  in  this  new  view  of 
our  destiny  much  more  than  in  moral  reformation,  since  humanity 
had  already,  as  we  have  shown,3  been  put  in  possession  of  all  the 
precepts  which  are  needed  to  regulate  this  world’s  existence.  Life 
was  purified,  but  became  gloomy  in  the  living  tomb  where  those 
confined  it  who  pushed  this  revolution  to  its  logical  consequences ; 
and  the  Roman  magistrates,  not  being  able  to  see  beyond  its 
outward  manifestations,  found  in  them  the  two  things  which 
form  the  grand  drama  of  persecutions,  —  contempt  of  human  society 
and  its  laws,  which  raised  up  executioners ;  and  love  of  death, 
which  made  victims. 

This  hatred  of  the  flesh,  which  the  ancient  Jews  had  not 
known,  but  which  philosophy  taught,  —  this  aspiration  after  death, 
so  contrary  to  the  conception  which  paganism  had  formed  of  life, 
—  could  not  have  been  produced  except  in  a  small  number  of 
stricken  and  suffering  souls.  But  the  heaven,  resplendent  with 
light,  which  Christianity  opened  to  their  gaze ;  its  teachings,  which 
addressed  themselves  to  the  noblest  instincts  of  the  conscience ;  the 
penetrating  sweetness  of  the  parables,  and  the  grand  poem  of  the 
Passion,  —  won  all  those  in  whom  were  found  the  two  most  potent 
faculties  of  our  being :  sentiment  and  imagination.  And,  along 


1  St.  Matthew  xxiv.  29-34;  Origen,  Contra  Celsum,  vii.  9. 

2  Lucian,  Perecjrinus,  13.  See  in  Vol.  Y.  p.  497,  what  Marcus  Aurelius  said  of  the 
Christians.  Epictetus,  Galen,  and  the  advocate  of  paganism  in  the  Octavius  say  the  same. 

3  In  Vol.  VI.,  chapter  on  “Ideas.”  M.  Reuss,  in  his  Histoire  de  la  theologie  chretienne 

au  s Cede  apostolique,  says  very  justly  (p.  650) :  “  The  main  point  is  that  the  originality  of  the 

Gospel  consists  not  so  much  in  the  novelty  of  certain  dogmas  or  of  certain  moral  precepts  as 
in  the  novelty  of  the  basis  which  it  gives  to  the  religious  life.” 


GENEALOGICAL  TABLE  OF  THE  SECOND  FLAVIAN  HOUSE. 


c$ 

Sh 

r2 

c 

a; 


'■G 

G- 

o3 


CO 

$3  o 

I5  3 
§  o 

►-N  G 


G 

o3 

•M 

CO 

a 

o 

o 


s? 

cs 

k 

2Q 


c3 

a 

0) 


G  ■ 
o3 

CO 

G 

s* 

jD 

O 


G 

o3 

-4-J 

CO 

G 

O 

o 


ao 
60  3 
X  c 
*2  o3 

fe  '<3 

G  o 


a> 

-2  Jz; 

Gh 

£3 

CO 

G  G 
Cd  O 

hH  0 

O'  X> 


G 

O 

*h 

0) 


to 

.2  G-^-*  G 

G  £  ^.S) 

S-cS  ^  *x 

£~  « 

.§  |-T^ 

>  .5  ©  "3 
§-G^ 


!z  " 


CO  CO 

X  G 
*£  G 

C  .2 

G 


5  § 


o3 

.2 

H-> 

-  G 
«  G 

S-H  4_3 

»  D  co 

<®  -£  c 

Ico 


5  3 

-  ce  os 
~35 
10  a 

^  £ 

,3 


a> 


3 
3 

5 

03  t n 

£  3 
5  3 

go 

S  a : 

«>  2 

.2« 

U 

*H  ' 

o3 


Sh  G 

^  2 

G  o3 


ef^ 

8  s 

"3  g 
33  &« 
^  S 

g'm 

q) 


~  c3 

g  qq 


CO 


93 


Sh 

c3 

co  ^ 

03  s 

3° 

^  x> 


>V+3  -M 
rO  G 
—  03  g 

— '  4->  ^ 

D  corK 

G2  GW 
*G  O  <D 
-*0.3 

CO  .  +-> 


G 

4J 

CO 

G 

G 

W 


G 

G 

•  pH 

> 
Sh  - 

x 

G 


CO 

X 


o3 

3 

G 

X 

*h, 

o 


X 

C 

+H 

G 

-  c3 
-*-> 
CO 

G 

O 

CJ 


CO 

Ol 

CO 


x 


G 
_  Gh 

CO 

*2 

O 


co^O 

G  10 
G  <*> 
to  G 

—  G  ,rH 
O  G3 

O  ^2 

°02 


*o  - 


co 

#x 

*3 

Sh  .g 
5s  <V  G 

'I'S.'S 

.5  -  j 

■  «n 

c  — i  u 

cS  co  O 

Sh 

c 


CO 

G  • 
O 

O 

TjT 


© 

to 

co  G  £3 

s*n^  © 

t-  y  a  . 
J  o’S*; 

2 

•-G  hj  £ 

—  52  ^ 

•— ■  *— i 

X  O  X 

co  ® 


«?  . 


G 

W 


CO  * 

c3 


co 


•O 


)  -  t>- 

!  GO  co 
GO  w 


G 

a? 


G 

o3 


H  ^  CO  G 
CO  H  bC  X  G 

g  co  Gr: 5 

CO  G  g  y 

G  G  ^  2  o 
G  .G  cs  G  g 

1^  b€° 
c  d  r  -< 
o  ;g  c 

w  ^ 

(M~  JZ 


,  "3  •?  ^ 


a> 


W 


.pp  CO 

G  A 
~  c3  ,rH 

S 1 

O  Gh 
Op^ 


co  S 


G 

G 


G 


g« 
S  .2  *g  (N 
S'd  2 


G 

G 

_  +j 

co 

G  ^  w 

O  co  0) 

o  2  3 

co  °  ^ 


co 

.3 

£  co 

j2  g 

G  S 


c8 


03 

o 


.  =  3_ 
*5  43 

c  e 


2  t>T 

c5^ 
£1  80 
Sow 

3 

*  G  ^ 
®  03 
G  q; 
G  — ! 

hh  C3  rG 

G-c  M 
<N 


S  CO 
.2  CO 

>  co  ^ 

G  -  »0  ^ 

.g  co  u: 

Pg  co  22 

co 


0)  . 

G 

•P-  CO 

c  00 
g  a 

_  ■+- <  .M 

CO 

G  rG 
O  0) 


co  G 
.  G  co 

1  8 


0:3 

^  G 

rH 


.2  G 

•  rH 

G  ^ 
co  <D 

X  Gh 
G  •  *—• 

2  o  ^ 


«f 

e 


G  12, 

W  eo 

•g.9 

—  G  fe 
O  g 

M  s 

rT  Gh 
G  G^ 
G  G 

gw 

pH 


X) 

Tcl 

"  G  ^ 

^  4^ 

<J  O 

co  .t3 


G 

rh 


o 

00 


,J  3) 

r  <u 


3 

o 


M 


33 

0 


-  ^00 

3  oo 

O 

x 


^  <1 


TU 

the 

o*  W,no** 


THE  CHURCH  AT  BEGINNING  OF  THIRD  CENTURY. 


7 


with  these  allurements,  what  terrors  did  these  men  wield  whose 
words  appropriated  the  terrible  beauty  of  the  prophetic  singers 
of  the  old  dispensation,  or  the  apocalyptic  threatenings  of  the 
new,  when  they  announced  the  speedy  coming  of  the  last  days  ; 
when  they  portrayed  empires  destroyed,  worlds  reduced  to  dust, 
the  trumpet  of  the  judgment  resounding  in  the  valley  of  Jehosh- 
aphat,  and  man  endowed  with  immortal  life,  either  for  happiness 
or  for  misery ! 

Never  had  the  world  known  such  sanctions  of  moral  action ; 1 
and  they  were  produced  at  an  epoch  when  the  unvarying  order 
of  Nature  was  regarded  as  the  plaything  of  angels  and  devils, 
who  hovered  about  man,  scattering  his  pathway  with  temptations 
which  his  own  frailty  created,  or  with  prodigies  which  he  beheld 
with  the  eyes  of  a  mind  dazzled  by  faith  or  fear. 

Under  Diocletian  a  farce  was  played,  entitled,  The  Testament 
of  the  Defunct  Jupiter.  Of  this  we  know  only  the  title ;  but  a 
poet  of  our  own  day  has  represented  the  god,  who  had  so  long  made 
heaven  and  earth  quake  with  his  thunderbolts,  broken  down  with 
age,  decrepit,  yet  with  a  remnant  of  majesty,  and  banished  far 
from  mankind  on  a  desert  island,  where  he  tries  in  vain  to  warm 
his  shrunken  hands  before  a  pitiful  fire  of  briers  and  thorns.  The 
poet  and  the  philosopher,  who  know  how  to  estimate  the  grandeur 
of  the  fall,  have  at  least  a  word  of  compassion  for  the  outcasts  of 
heaven.  Religions,  less  generous,  pursue  with  lively  hatred  those 
whom  they  have  conquered ;  they  take  from  them  their  power  for 
good,  and  give  them  that  for  evil.  The  Christians  still  believed  in 
the  existence  of  the  gods  of  paganism  and  in  the  prodigies  per¬ 
formed  in  their  temples ;  but  they  transformed  these  masters  of 
the  old  world  into  devils  infuriated  for  the  destruction  of  the 
new.  To  conduct  this  war  against  humanity,  they  gave  to  these 
fallen  divinities  a  chief  who  had  as  yet  been  known  only  among 
the  Chaldaeans,  in  Persia,  and  to  some  extent  in  Judaea.2  Thus 
Satan,  who  was  destined  to  play  so  important  a  part  in  the 

1  The  Apocalypse  has  created  a  new  kind  of  oratory,  by  placing  at  the  disposal  of  the 
Christian  priest  the  terrors  of  hell  and  the  bliss  of  paradise.  Paganism  never  had  anything 
like  this. 

2  Satan  is  hardly  mentioned  thrice  in  the  Old  Testament.  The  book  of  Wisdom,  in  which 
he  appears  in  his  true  character,  was  written,  shortly  before  the  Christian  era,  at  Alexandria. 
[This  is  not  true  in  the  case  of  Job.  — Ed.] 


8 


THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


Middle  Ages,  began  his  reign ;  he  turned  to  evil  the  most  legitimate 
pleasures,  concealed  a  snare  in  all  the  magnificence  of  Nature,  and 
spread  terror  over  the  earth,  now  become  his  kingdom.  That 
which  is  within  us,  —  these  frailties  and  vices  which  a  determined 
will  keeps  in  restraint,  which  a  vacillating  will  suffers  to  develop, — 
all  this  was  made  external,  and  the  universe  filled  with  malignant 
beings,  who  were  in  reality  but  part  of  ourselves.  Humanity 
became  twofold,  and  trembled  before  its  own  image ;  and  the 
Christian,  who  believed  himself  perpetually  surrounded  by  tempta¬ 
tions  to  mortal  sin,  said  with  Saint  John :  “  He  that  hateth  his 
life  in  this  world  shall  keep  it  unto  life  eternal.” 1 

This  doctrine  of  despair  is  as  enduring  as  that  of  hope,  because 
humanity  must  always  have  its  sufferings  and  its  diseased  minds 
who  can  see  only  the  sorrows  of  existence  and  cannot  comprehend 
a  Providence  w*hich  permits  evil  to  fall  upon  the  innocent.  For 
many  centuries  the  votaries  of  Cakyamuni  have  taught  in  the 
East  to  countless  multitudes  that  life  is  the  one  evil,  and  the 
Alexandrians  had  just  repeated  that  men  ought  to  aspire  to  death 
as  to  deliverance.2  The  Jewish  Preacher  also  uttered  this  melancholy 
cry,  to  which  some  fibre  in  every  human  soul  seems  to  respond, 
“  All  is  vanity.”  And  the  cry  has  found  an  echo  in  all  times :  in 
the  Middle  Ages,  in  the  full  tide  of  the  century  of  Louis  XIV., 
and  even  in  the  midst  of  our  clamorous  and  busy  life.  We  have 
the  poets  and  philosophers  of  malediction,  Leopardi  and  Hart¬ 
mann;3  while  the  Carthusians  and  the  Trappists  represent  to 
us,  under  a  religious  form,  weariness  or  ignorance  of  the  world, 
the  spirit  of  hatred  towards  the  flesh,  and  that  poetry  of  solitude 
at  once  bitter  and  sweet.  To  them,  whether  philosophers  or  ancho¬ 
rites,  the  sombre  bride  is  always  beautiful ;  and,  from  contrary 
reasons,  they  find  sweetness  in  death  :  la  gentillezza  del  morir. 

1  xii.  25.  These  words  are  still  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  the  Church,  and  are  fre¬ 
quently  repeated.  I  heard  them  recently  in  a  sermon. 

2  The  singular  analogies  which  exist  between  the  doctrine  of  Plotinus  and  the  Buddhist 
Nirvana  have  frequently  been  pointed  out,  —  fortuitous  analogies,  which  do  not  result  from 
imitation,  but  from  the  same  condition  of  minds. 

3  Not  to  speak  of  Bene,  Werther,  and  Manfred,  who  have  brought  into  fashion  a  morbid 
sadness  which  their  originators,  Chateaubriand,  Goethe,  and  Byron,  did  not  share.  A  strange 
sect  among  the  Russians,  the  Skoptzi,  seem  to  owe  their  existence  to  a  similar  spirit. 


THE  CHURCH  AT  BEGINNING  OF  THIRD  CENTURY. 


9 


III. — The  Christian  Dogmas. 

However,  thoughts  like  these  do  violence  to  human  nature ; 
and  though  the  Roman  Empire  extended  to  those  countries 

where  exertion  and  the  struggle  for  existence  readily  become  a 
source  of  suffering,  the  doctrine  of  rest  in  God  would  have  had, 
among  the  more  virile  populations  of  the  West,  only  a  transient 
duration,  if  the  beliefs  which  had  produced  it  had  not  been,  so 
to  speak,  incarnated  in  the  most  strongly  constituted  sacerdotal 
body  which  ever  existed.  With  a  marvellous  instinct  for  the 

government  of  souls,  and  by  means  of  a  labor  of  organization 

which  has  never  ceased,  the  Church  made  definite  and  permanent 
that  faith  which,  without  her,  would  have  been  dispersed  and  lost, 
like  precious  perfume  evaporating  in  an  open  vase. 

With  the  Platonic  theory  of  the  Logos ,  or  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
sent  by  Jesus  to  his  disciples,  the  revelation  could  continue  after 
the  disappearance  of  the  revealer.  In  proportion  then  as  life 

became  more  active  in  the  Church,  she  prepared,  according  to 
the  times,  new  organs  for  new  functions,  to  ward  off  a  peril 
or  respond  to  a  demand.  This  is  the  condition  of  every  great  and 
powerful  existence.  The  primitive  Church,  that  of  the  apostolic 
age,  had  become  transformed.  All  that  had  been  free  and  spon¬ 
taneous,  or  vague  and  fluctuating,  —  doctrine,  hierarchy,  or  discipline, 
—  was  precisely  formulated  and  set  in  order  for  a  mighty  en¬ 
deavor.1  The  Roman  Catholics  refuse  to  recognise  this  progressive 
Revolution,  and  the  Protestants  condemn  it ;  yet  it  is  by  this  that 
the  Church  has  endured.  What  are  the  longest  dynasties  of  kings 
and  emperors  by  the  side  of  the  succession  of  her  pontiffs,  and 

1  Vol.  VI.  p.  406  et  seq.;  St.  John  xiv.  16,  26,  and  xvi.  13.  See  in  1  Cor.  xiv.  26,  what 
liberty  Saint  Paul  allowed  to  “  those  who  had  received  the  gift  of  teaching  or  of  revealing  the 
secret  things  of  God.”  The  ordinances  of  the  Church  of  Alexandria  (Bunsen,  Christianity 
and  Mankind ,  vol.  vi.)  yet  say  (ii.  41)  :  eyw/xf*'  navres  to  7rvevp a  roO  0eo£>.  The  propagation  of 
the  faith  was  “by  the  living  word.”  J.  Donaldson  ( The  Apostolical  Fathers ,  vol.  i.  p.  60, 
1874),  commenting  on  the  words  of  Irenaeus,  well  says :  “  In  fact,  there  was  a  spoken  Christianity 
as  well  as  a  written  Christianity  ;  the  former  existed  before  the  latter.”  And  he  attempts  to 
demonstrate  what  were  the  faith  and  the  free  constitution  of  the  Church  at  this  time  when  free 
speech  was  not  fettered  by  the  written  formula,  and  when  each  body  of  Christians  was 
independent  under  its  elders  and  inspectors. 


10  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


what  institution  has  lived  eighteen  centuries  ?  It  is  not  generally 
recognized  that  of  all  the  miracles  this  is  the  greatest,  —  human 
wisdom  rearing  a  temple  in  which  the  noblest  minds  have  lived 
so  long,  and  which  shelters  so  many  still. 

In  the  first  and  second  centuries  evangelical  liberty  was  very 
great,  and  it  was  only  gradually  lost.1  Most  of  the  apologists  of 
the  epoch  of  the  Antonines  did  not  even  belong  to  the  clergy,  and 
Eusebius2  shows  that  for  a  long  time  there  were  volunteers  for  the 
faith,  who  spread  abroad  the  glad  tidings  according  to  their  own 
inspiration.  From  this  resulted  diversities,  which  at  an  early  date 
produced  what  the  constituted  Church  called  “  heresies.” 

The  Apostles  and  the  Apostolic  Fathers  had  taught,  with  some 
discrepancies  which  we  cannot  now  define,  the  fundamental  doc¬ 
trine  of  the  divinity  of  Christ,  and,  consequently,  a  revealed  law. 

This  law  was  recorded  in  numerous  accounts  of  the  life  of  Jesus, 

which  had  at  first  only  a  traditional  value.3  To  the  early  Fathers, 

the  Holy  Scriptures  were  above  all  the  Pentateuch  and  the 
Prophets ;  even  in  the  middle  of  the  second  century,  Papias,  bishop 
of  Hierapolis  in  Phrygia,  said  that  it  was  far  less  important  to 
consult  the  books  than  living  tradition.4  But  before  the  end  of  this 


1  Letter  72  of  Saint  Cyprian  to  Saint  Stephen,  bishop  of  Rome,  closes  with  these  words: 
Qua  in  re  nec  nos  vim  cuiquam  facimus  aut  legem  damus,  quando  habeat  in  Ecclesiae 
administration  voluntatis  suae  arbitrium  liberum  unusquisque  praepositus,  rationem  actus  sui 
Domino  redditurus. 

2  Hist.  eccl.  iii.  37.  What  is  termed  the  Council  of  Jerusalem  (Acts  xv.)  had  itself,  on 
some  important  points,  respected  the  liberty  of  the  faithful. 

3  Donaldson,  The  Apost.,  etc.,  pp.  68,  107,  155,  234,  etc.  Origen  attests  (In  Matth.x ii.  6) 
that  some  Christians  did  not  find  the  divinity  of  Christ  clearly  expressed  in  the  Gospel  of  Saint 
Matthew ;  and  Photius,  in  his  Bibliotheca,  Cod.  126,  addresses  the  same  reproach  to  Saint  Clement 
of  Rome  for  his  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  in  which  Jesus  is  nowhere  called  God,  but  the 
beloved  child  of  God,  the  high  priest,  the  head  of  souls.  The  pseudo-ilermas  speaks  in  the  same 
manner.  See  also  the  words  of  Saint  Peter  (i.  1,  2,  25),  which  are  not  contradicted  by  the  Acts 
(ii.  36).  Cf.  Clemens  Romanus,  Epist.,  ed.  llilgenfeld,  1876,  after  the  manuscript  discovered 
the  year  before  at  Constantinople.  Eusebius  (Hist.  eccl.  iii.  34)  gives  the  date  of  Clement’s 
death  as  a.  d.  101.  The  idea  of  a  Messiah  was  exceedingly  Jewish  :  that  of  a  God  become  man 
was  not  so ;  and  it  is  quite  natural  that  in  the  early  times  it  should  have  entered  with  great 
difficulty  into  the  minds  of  the  Jews  converted  to  the  Gospel.  This  was  the  case,  for  instance, 
with  Cerinthus,  the  famous  heresiarch,  whom  certain  accounts  place  in  communication  with 
Saint  John.  Saint  Ignatius,  dying  under  Trajan,  had  combated  the  Ebionites,  who  denied  the 
divinity  of  Jesus  (Ep.  ad  Magn.  7-8;  ad  Philad.  6-9),  and  the  Docetae,  who  rejected  his 
humanity  (Ep.  ad  Smyrn.  1-5;  ad  Trail.  6-10). 

4  ...  ra  napa  CanTys  (pcovrjs  Kai  pevovcnji  (Eusebius,  Hist.  eccl.  iii.  39).  Trenaeus  (iii.  2) 
also  said :  Non  per  litteras  traditam  veritatem,  sed  per  vivam  vocem.  According  to  Eusebius 
(ibid.),  Papias  could  only  have  known  and  employed  the  Gospels  of  Saint  Mark  and  of  Saint 


THE  CHURCH  AT  BEGINNING  OF  THIRD  CENTURY.  ll 


century  the  choice  between  all  these  accounts  was  made,  and  apo¬ 
stolic  authority  recognized  in  the  three  Synoptics,  into  which  older 
writings  had  been  fused,1  and  in  the  Gospel  of  Saint  John,  although 
this  had  been  composed  later,  and  differed  from  the  three  others 
on  an  essential  point,  —  the  doctrine  of  the  Logos.  This  doc¬ 
trine,  which  the  Alexandrian  Jew  Philo  had  brilliantly  enunciated, 
was  related  both  to  some  ancient  Egyptian  beliefs,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  certain  ideas  of  Plato.  By  giving  rise  in  philosophic 
minds  to  the  boldest  speculations,  it  was  destined  to  serve  as  a 
foundation  for  the  Christian  theology  which  made  of  the  Messiah 
the  Incarnate  Word,  while  the  Synoptics  supplied  to  the  ordinary 
preaching,  to  attract  the  multitude,  their  tender  and  charming 
parables,  and  the  sombre  and  sublime  narrative  of  the  Passion. 
The  Acts  and  the  Epistles  had  likewise  been  admitted,  so  that  the 
canon  of  the  Scriptures  was  nearly  determined,  though  no  authority 
had  as  yet  closed  or  promulgated  it.2  The  Church,  therefore,  had 

Matthew,  of  which  he  speaks  with  great  liberty,  the  Apocalypse,  the  first  Epistle  of  Saint 
Peter,  and  the  first  of  Saint  John.  A  very  important  work  for  the  knowledge  of  the  canon 
of  the  Scriptures  towards  the  end  of  the  second  century  is  the  Fragment  of  Muratori  (so 
c  died),  discovered  in  1840  at  Milan.  [The  best  general  guide  is  now  G.  Salmon’s  Critical 
Introduction  to  the  N.  T.  London  :  J.  Murray,  1885.  —  Ed.] 

1  Saint  Luke,  in  proem.,  says,  ttoWo'l 

2  I  do  not  need  to  investigate  when  and  how  the  canonical  books  were  prepared ;  a 
multitude  of  learned  works  furnish  information  on  this  subject.  My  duty  is  to  show  what 
were  the  spirit  and  the  organization  of  the  Church  at  the  epoch  when  its  power  was  sufficiently 
great  to  enable  it  to  exert  an  influence  on  Roman  society  and  the  destinies  of  the  Empire. 
Now,  this  epoch  corresponds  to  the  reign  of  Severus.  Under  Marcus  Aurelius,  Celsus  (Origen, 
Contra  Cels.  ii.  27)  represented  the  Christians  as  at  that  time  continually  occupied  in  correcting 
and  altering  their  Gospels,  .  .  .  mutant  pervertuntque ;  and  Eusebius  (Hist.  eccl.  iv.  23,  and 
v.  28)  confirms  this  testimony.  Origen,  who  died  in  253,  in  fact  says  (Horn.  1,  in  Luc.)  : 
Multi  conati  sunt  scribere  Evangelica;  but  he  adds,  seel  non  omnes  recepti.  There  was,  then,  in 
the  first  and  second  centuries,  a  great  work  of  editing,  co-ordinating,  and  eliminating,  which 
resulted  in  an  evangelical  canon.  At  the  time  of  Tertullian  (beginning  of  the  third  century) 
the  canon  was  fixed ;  for  he  speaks  (A  d  Marcionem,  iv.  2)  of  the  four  Gospels  “  of  the  apostles 
Matthew  and  John  ”  and  the  “  apostolic  men”  Luke  and  Mark,  as  forming  the  “  evangelical 
instrument  ”  accepted  in  his  time.  So  also  Saint  Irenaeus,  who  was  put  to  death  under  Severus 
(Adv.  haer.  iii.  11),  and  Clement  of  Alexandria,  who  died  under  Caracalla  or  Elagabalus 
(Strom,  iii.  13);  but  both  quote  freely  from  the  Apocrypha;  Origen  thinks  “it  may  be  used 
with  discretion”  (Horn.  26  in  Matth.  23).  The  author  of  the  Letters  of  Saint  Ignatius  regards 
the  Gospel  of  the  Hebrews  as  an  authentic  text  (Ad  Smyrn.  3)  ;  Saint  Irenaeus  mentions  also 
the  Acts,  the  Epistles,  and  the  Apocalypse.  Saint  Justin,  half  a  century  earlier,  never  cites  the 
Epistles,  and  very  rarely  the  Fourth  Gospel,  the  authenticity  of  which  was  still  under  discus¬ 
sion.  Even  in  the  middle  of  the  third  century,  Dionysius,  bishop  of  Alexandria,  does  not 
know  who  is  the  author  of  the  Apocalypse,  and  is  not  without  some  distrust  of  the  value  of 
this  book  (Eusebius,  Hist,  eccles.  vii.  25).  “Peter,”  says  Origen  (ap.  Eusebius,  ibid.  vi.  25), 

“  has  left  but  one  epistle  which  is  generally  received.  .  .  .  John  has  also  left  one  very  short 


12 


THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


its  holy  book,  the  New  Testament,  —  less  poetical  than  the  Old, 
but  far  superior  as  a  winner  of  souls. 

Finally,  Theophilus  of  Antioch  had  just  found  a  word  which 
is  not  in  the  Gospels,  the  word  Trinity,1  —  a  brief  and  clear  ex¬ 
pression  of  the  dogma  which  the  Council  of  Nicaea  stated  exactly, 
by  determining  the  relations  of  the  three  divine  persons ; 2  and 
Saint  Irenaeus  wrote,  between  the  years  177  and  192,  the 


Catholic  profession  of  faith  in  almost  the  same  terms  used  in  the 
doctrinal  formulary  of  32 5.4  But  all  Christian  believers  did  not 
attach  the  same  importance  to  these  obscure  dogmas.  In  the  fourth 
century,  Lactantius,  one  of  the  most  valiant  defenders  of  the 
Church,  understood  them  so  imperfectly  that  Pope  Gelasius  placed 
his  works  among  the  apocrypha ;  later  still,  Gregory  Nazianzen  will 
show  what  uncertainty  existed  with  regard  to  the  Holy  Spirit.5 

Thus,  at  the  epoch  where  we  take  up  the  history  of  the 
Church,  the  close  of  the  second  century,  Christian  theology  had 

Epistle.  ...  As  to  the  Epistle  of  Paul  to  the  Hebrews,  ray  belief  is  that  God  alone  knows  who 
is  its  author.”  The  authenticity  of  the  Pauline  Epistles  to  Titus  and  Timothy  is  also  much 
contested. 

1  Tpi'ar  ( Ad  Autolyc.  ii.  15),  which  Tertullian  translated  by  the  Latin  word  Trinitas  ( De 

Pudicitia,  21). 

2  In  respect  to  this  old  trinitarian  belief,  which  underlies  the  Gospels,  particularly  that  of 
Saint  John,  see  Yol.  VI.  p.  585,  note.  Theophilus  was  bishop  of  Antioch,  and  died  in  the 
reign  of  Commodus. 

3  From  a  marble  in  the  Museum  of  the  Lateran  (Roller,  Les  Catac.  de  Rome ,  pi.  lxvii. 
No.  2). 

4  Adv.  haer.  i.  10;  likewise  Tertullian  in  the  De  Praescr.  13,  and,  less  at  length,  in  the 

De  Velandis  Virg. 

5  Gregory  Nazianzen,  Oral.  xxxi.  Spiritus  sancti  negat  substantiam,  says  Saint  Jerome 
( Epist .  49),  with  reference  to  Lactantius;  and  he  adds  that  Lactantius  displays  more  skill  in 
combating  error  than  in  establishing  truth  (Epist.  13,  ad  Paulin.). 


THE  CHURCH  AT  BEGINNING  OF  THIRD  CENTURY.  13 


made  a  brilliant  beginning.  It  was  Greek  genius  which  had  done 
this,  by  the  mouth  of  Ignatius  and  Irenaeus,  of  Justin  and 
Athenagoras,  of  Tatian  and  Theophilus,  of  Melito  of  Sardis  and 
Apollinarius  of  Hierapolis ;  and  other  Greeks,  Clement  and  Origen, 
will  develop  it  in  the  third,  in  the  great  school  of  Alexandria.1 

The  fraternal  agape  had  at  first  been  only  a  remembrance  of 
the  Last  Supper  and  a  transformation  of  the  great  feast  of  the 
Jews,  the  Passover,  at  which  the  paschal  lamb  was  eaten  in  com¬ 
memoration  of  the  miraculous  exodus  of  the  Hebrews  when  they 


THE  AGAPE.3 


escaped  from  the  bondage  of  Egypt.  The  increasing  number  of 
believers  changed  its  character ;  it  became  the  mystic  repast,  which 
derived  its  name,  euyapto-rta,  from  the  thanksgiving  pronounced 
in  the  benediction  of  the  cup  and  the  breaking  of  the  bread.3 
For  the  bloody  sacrifice  of  the  old  cult,  Christianity  substituted 
one  of  a  nature  wholly  spiritual,  like  itself,  and  also  celebrating 
a  deliverance,  —  that  of  souls. 

Sacrifice  —  that  is  to  say,  the  gift  offered  to  the  gods  with  the 
view  of  gaining  their  favor  —  had  been  the  basis  of  all  the  cults ; 
and  the  costlier  the  offering,  the  more  efficacious  was  believed  to  be 
the  sacrifice.  Hence  the  immolation  of  human  victims.  Time  made 
this  cruel  piety  unpopular,  the  philosophers  condemned  it,  and  the 
Emperors  prohibited  it ;  but  the  belief '  in  the  merits  of  sacrifice 

*  To  kcit  ' A\f^dv8peiav  8i8aaKa\eiov  (Eusebius,  ibid.  v.  10). 

2  From  a  bas-relief  of  the  Kircher  Museum  (Roller,  pi.  liv.  fig.  7). 

3  On  the  eucharistia  in  the  middle  of  the  second  century,  see  Saint  Irenaeus  {A  dr.  haer.. 
lv.  18)  and  Saint  Justin  (Apol.  i.  65-67). 


14  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  ISO  TO  235  a.  d. 


did  not  cease ;  it  became  transformed  and  purified.  The  pagan 
god  received  the  offering  and  shared  it  with  his  worshippers;1 
the  new  God  gave  himself  to  his  priests  and  his  followers.  No 
more  shedding  of  blood,  no  more  flame  consuming  the  victim, 
no  more  smoke  veiling  the  divine  face.  The  gifts  of  the  heavenly 
Father  which  sustain  life  upon  the  earth, — bread,  water,  and  wine, — 
became  symbols  of  men’s  communion  with  him.  His  spirit  was 
incarnate  in  Jesus ;  Jesus  ascended  to  heaven,  became  incarnate 
in  the  bread  and  wine  consecrated  on  earth :  hoc  est  corpus  meum , 
hie  est  sanguis  mens.  This  was  at  first  only  a  figure.2  As  men 
participated  in  idolatry  by  eating  the  flesh  of  pagan  victims,  they 
participated  in  the  new  cult  by  breaking  the  bread  and  drink¬ 
ing  the  cup.  But  the  condition  of  men’s  minds  being  what  it 
was,  the  figure  must  very  soon  become  to  the  faithful  a  reality.  In 
the  middle  of  the  second  century  the  eucharist  was  already  “  the 
sacrament  of  the  altar.”3  While  Christian  believers  were  still  far 
from  believing  in  transubstantiation,  they  already  admitted  consub- 
stantiation ;  and  the  mystic  sanctity  which  the  Lord’s  Supper  had 
acquired,  communicated  to  the  priest  who  offered  the  sacrifice  a 
more  exalted  dignity,  with  the  character  of  a  necessary  mediator 
between  heaven  and  earth. 

This  character  was  also  to  come  to  him  in  another  wTay. 

Jesus  had  left  to  his  Apostles  only  the  two  commands :  “  Preach 
the  Gospel  to  all  the  nations,  and  baptize  them.”  This  baptism, 
which  he  himself  had  chosen  to  receive,  was  a  symbol  of  purifica¬ 
tion  and  the  condition  of  salvation.4  In  early  times  it  presupposed 
on  the  part  of  the  one  who  presented  himself  for  it  a  personal 
adherence  given  after  receiving  instruction,  and  signified  by  a 
profession  of  the  Christian  faith.  Hence  it  was  administered  to 
adults  only :  the  catechumens  of  Alexandria  waited  three  years 
for  it.5  But  the  sacramental  idea  attached  especial  virtues  to 
it ;  by  it,  he  who  was  baptized  was  born  again  in  the  spirit. 
“Plunged  in  the  darkness  of  a  dense  night,  and  floating  on  the 

1  In  ancient  Italy  the  repast  was  always  preceded  bv  libations  to  the  Penates. 

2  The  Acts  of  the  Apostles  (ii.  42,  and  xx.  7)  explain  the  words  of  Paul,  1  Cor.  x.  16. 

3  Ignatius,  A d  Rom.  7;  Ad  Smyrn.  7;  Justin.  Anal.  i.  66;  and  Irenaeus,  op.  cit.  iv.  18, 
and  v.  2. 

4  John,  iii.  5. 

5  KavoVey  Trjs  iv  AlyvTrru)  eK/cKr/a-las  (ii.  45,  up.  Bunsen,  iv.  451  et  seqi). 


(BAS-RELIEF  OF  A  SARCOPHAGUS  OF  ARLES.  E.  LE  BLANT,  ETUDES  SUR  LES  SARCOPHAGES  DE  LA 

YILLE  DJ  ARLES,  PLATE  XIY.) 


The  Library 
e?  the 

yiw»v«r*lty  of  llllno<» 


THE  CHURCH  AT  BEGINNING  OF  THIRD  CENTURY. 


15 


stormy  sea  of  the  time,  I  drifted  hither  and  thither,”  says 
Saint  Cyprian,  “  and  knew  not  how  to  direct  my  life.  Divine 
goodness  caused  me  to  be  born  again  in  the  saving  water  of 
baptism.  ...  At  once  a  serene 
and  pure  light  was  shed  from 
on  high  upon  my  soul,  aud  I 
became  a  new  man.” 1  This 
efficacy  of  baptism  dispens¬ 
ing  with  personal  adherence, 
children  were  admitted  to 
regeneration.  This  was  a 
noteworthy  innovation.  The 
Master  had  said,  Smite  venire 
ad  me  parvulos ;  the  Church 
called  them  and  took  them. 

She  now  watched  over  the 
beginnings  of  life,  as  over  the 
approach  of  death,  and  thus 
she  was  enabled  to  keep  or 

to  recover  in  the  turbulent  years  of  youth  those  whom  from  their 
birth  she  had  “enrolled  in  the  army  of  Christ  ( census  Dei).”3 

Emerging  from  the  baptismal  font,  the  neophyte  was  clothed 
with  a  white  robe,  —  symbol  of  innocence,  —  and  he  drank,  from 
a  vessel  of  milk  and  honey,  the  pure,  sweet  nourishment  of  the 
body,  which  was  an  image  of  the  spiritual  food  distributed  by  the 
Church  to  all  her  children.4 

Jesus  had  said,  “  Whosesoever  sins  ye  forgive,  they  are  for¬ 
given  unto  them.”  This  was  a  powerful  means  of  action  for  the 


BAPTISM. 


1  Saint  Cyprian,  Ep.  ad  Donat.  Saint  Justin  ( Apol .  i.  61)  liad  spoken  of  this  new 
birth  by  baptism,  and  Origen  called  it  “  the  principle  and  the  source  of  the  gifts  of  grace  ” 
( In  Joann.  17). 

2  From  a  painting  in  the  crypt  of  Pope  Calixtus  (Roller,  op.  cit.  pi.  xxiv.  fig.  4.  Cf. 
ibid.  i.  131). 

3  Tertullian,  De  Baptismo,  17.  Baptism  was  habitually  administered  by  immersion  for 
those  in  health,  by  sprinkling  for  the  sick.  This  rite  was  also  the  foundation  of  the  worship  of 
Mitlira,  then  widely  extended,  and  it  “regenerated  for  eternity”  him  who  received  it;  but  it 
was  a  baptism  of  blood,  giving  rise  to  a  hideous  ceremony  (Vol.  VI.  p  390),  which  must  have 
repelled  women,  children,  and  all  sensitive  persons.  Another  baptism  of  blood,  that  of  the 
Jews,  continued  for  some  time  to  be  practised  by  the  Christian  Jews  also.  The  fifteen 
bishops  of  Jerusalem,  down  to  the  destruction  of  the  temple,  were  circumcised  (Eusebius, 
Ilist.  eccl.  iv.  5). 

*  .  .  .  Mellis  et  lactis  soviet  at  em  (Tertullian,  A  do.  Marcion.  i.  14) 


16  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


government  of  souls,  promised  to  the  new  priesthood.  At  first, 
the  penitent  “made  unto  the  Lord”1  the  avowal  of  his  fault  in  the 
presence  of  the  believers,  and  the  priest  determined  the  necessary 
expiation.  But  it  was  inevitable  that  auricular  confession  should 
take  the  place  of  public  confession.  The  penitent  and  the  priest 
were  equally  interested  in  this  change,  for  the  public  confession 
being  possible  only  in  the  case  of  grave  offences,  the  minor  ones 
escaped  the  action  of  the  Church.  With  confession  to  the 
priest  alone,  the  sinner,  especially  women,2  avoided  the  shame  of 
humiliation  before  all  the  people ;  and  the  priest  penetrated  into 
the  private  life  of  the  penitent,  and  was  thus  better  enabled  to 
direct  him  for  salvation.  If  the  penitent,  in  a  dying  condition, 
desired  to  be  reconciled  to  the  Church,  the  priest,  at  his  bedside, 
necessarily  represented  the  whole  assembly  of  the  brethren ;  and 
the  exception  ended  by  becoming  the  rule.  However,  public  con¬ 
fession  was  not  interdicted  until  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century; 
but  at  that  time  auricular  confession,  whose  beginnings  we  see  in 
the  epoch  now  under  consideration,3  had  long  since  acquired  the 
power  of  a  sacrament.  By  the  counsels  which  follow  confession, 
the  priest  assumed  the  direction  of  the  life  of  the  penitents :  he 
taught  them  the  laws  of  right  conduct  according  to  the  Church, 
and  by  his  power  to  bind  and  to  loose,  made  saints  destined  to  sit 
down  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  or  damned  souls  whom  Satan 
and  his  tortures  await.  The  pagan  mysteries,  too,  granted  sal¬ 
vation,  but  by  an  initiation  which  was  not  repeated.  In  the 
bosom  of  the  Church  the  initiation  is  perpetually  renewed  by 
the  eucharistic  communion,  which  restores  to  a  state  of  purity, 
by  the  religious  teaching  which  prepares  for  it,  by  the  sacra¬ 
ment  of  penitence  which  brings  back  the  sinner  or  turns  away 
forever  the  excommunicated,  banished  at  the  same  time  from 
the  Church  and  from  heaven.  What  a  moral  power  in  this 

1  .  .  .  Exomologesis  est  qua  delictum  domino  nostro  eonfitemur  (Tertullian,  De  Poenit. 
9).  It  is  the  public  confession  mentioned  in  the  Gospel  of  Saint  Matthew  (iii.  6),  of  Saint 
Mark  (i.  5),  and  in  the  Acts  (xix.  18). 

2  Saint  Irenaeus  ( Adv .  haer.  i.  3)  speaks  of  women  who  publicly  confessed  their  faults. 

3  Origen,  in  the  second  homily  upon  Psalm  xxxvii.  19,  in  the  Homilia  2  in  Levit.  4,  and 
in  his  De  Orat.  28,  is  already  more  explicit.  At  this  moment,  the  middle  of  the  third  century, 
the  two  modes  of  confession  co-exist,  but  the  confession  to  the  priest  is  already  more  customary 
than  the  confession  to  the  assembly.  Cf.  the  Octavius ,  9,  10,  11,  12,  25,  2C,  and  29,  and  the 
De  Lapsis.  As  to  the  laying  on  of  hands,  that  was  a  Jewish  custom. 


THE  CHURCH  AT  BEGINNING  OF  THIRD  CENTURY.  IT 

faith !  What  supremacy  given  to  these  outcasts  of  earth  who 
were  able  to  give  heaven  or  refuse  it !  Never  before  had  such 
authority  been  recognized  by  men,  such  discipline  accepted  by 
believers ;  and  how  clearly  this  explains  why  the  nations  so  long 
bent  their  knees  and  subjected  their  souls  to  the  priesthood  of 
the  Church ! 

Another  sacrament  now  came  into  existence,  or  rather  an  ancient 
usage  continued  under  a  new  form,  —  extreme  unction.1 2  This  again 


THE  AGAPE,  SYMBOL  OF  THE  EUCHARISTIC  COMMUNION.2 


is  only  the  prayer  of  the  priests  over  the  sick,  the  Jewish  usage 
of  anointing  with  oil  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  and  the  confession 
of  faith  by  dying  persons.3 

The  civil  law  does  not  favor  celibacy,  for  celibacy  renders  a 
man  free  from  the  obligations  of  the  family,  and  the  family  is 
the  basis  of  society.  But  in  the  East,  and  even  in  Greece,  certain 
churches  and  philosophic  sects-  recommended  it.  In  the  days  of 
the  old  religion,  some  of  the  goddesses  —  Diana,  Minerva,  Vesta, 
and  the  Muses  —  had  repudiated  even  chaste  love;  and  at  Athens 
and  Rome,  and  among  the  Gauls,  the  holiest  prayers  were  those 

1  Origen,  Homilia  2  in  Levit.  2. 

2  After  a  marble  of  the  Lateran.  The  Genius  which  occupies  the  left  is  foreign  to  tlie 
eucharistic  supper.  He  supports  the  frame  of  the  epitaph  (Roller,  op.  cii.  pi.  liv.  fig.  6). 

3  James  v.  14-15.  Among  the  Jews  perfumed  olive-oil  served  for  various  religious  uses 
(Genesis  xxviii.  18,  and  Exodus  xxx.  24-29)  and  for  the  anointing  of  high-priests  and  lungs, 
for  the  treatment  of  diseases  and  wounds  (Isaiah  i.  G),  for  the  purification  of  lepers  (Levit.. 
xiv.  17). 


VOL.  vn. 


2 


18  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  285  a.  d. 


of  virgins.  The  Apostles  and  the  early  Fathers  did  not  impose 
celibacy ;  there  was,  however,  a  tendency  towards  it ;  it  was  the 


natural  consequence  of  a  doctrine  which  prescribed  the  mortifica¬ 
tion  of  the  flesh,  and  renunciation.1 2  As  early  as  the  period  of 

1  From  a  fresco  of  the  subterranean  basilica  of  St.  Clement  at  Rome.  This  Virgin, 
doubtless  of  the  eighth  century,  is  the  oldest  known  after  that  of  the  catacombs  of  St. 
Priscilla.  The  basilica  of  St.  Clement,  between  the  Caelian  and  the  Esquiline,  was  filled 
up  in  the  twelfth  century  for  the  construction  of  the  present  church,  and  has  been  rendered 
accessible  only  since  1855.  The  Madonna  buried  there  has  consequently  suffered  no  retouch¬ 
ing  ;  and  with  her  nimbus  of  gold  and  her  rich  drapery  overloaded  with  gems,  offers  us  an 
authentic  specimen  of  the  Byzantine  style  (Roller,  op.  cit.  vol.  ii.  pi.  C,  and  p.  354). 

2  We  find  in  the  early  centuries  numbers  of  bishops  married,  but  living  in  celibacy. 
Caecilius,  a  presbyter  of  the  church  of  Carthage,  at  his  death  commended  his  wife  and  chil¬ 
dren  to  Saint  Cyprian’s  care  (Fleury.  Hist,  eccles.  ii.  173),  and  during  the  persecution  of 
Decius,  the  Bishop  of  Nicopolis  in  Egypt  fled  to  the  desert  “  with  his  wife  ”  (Eusebius,  Hist, 
eccles.  vi.  42).  Records  of  martyrs  relating  to  the  persecution  of  Diocletian  speak  of  married 
bishops,  and  a  law  of  357  (Cod.  Theod.  xvi.  2,  14),  confirming  the  benefits  granted  by  Constan¬ 
tine  to  the  clergy,  extended  them  to  their  wives  and  children,  wares  et  feminae.  The  Church 
recommended  continence  to  the  married  clergy  (Council  of  Elvira,  33d  canon  ;  Council  of 
Nicaea,  3d  canon).  See  in  Socrates  (Hist,  eccles.  i.  11)  the  speech  of  Saint  Paphnutius  in 
opposition  at  the  Council  of  Nicaea.  The  same  writer  mentions  (v.  22)  at  the  end  of  the 
fourth  century  married  bishops  who  had  had  legitimate  children  after  their  ordination. 


THE  CHURCH  AT  BEGINNING  OF  THIRD  CENTURY.  19 


which  we  speak,  the  Christian  Church  refused  to  admit  to  the 
episcopate  those  who  had  contracted  a  second  marriage ;  and  this 
regulation  has  been  preserved  in  the  Greek  Church.  In  order  to 
control  man  at  every  moment  of  his  life,  from  the  cradle  to  the 
grave,  the  Church  later  made  a  sacrament  of  marriage,  although 
without  being  able  to  deprive  it  of  its  fundamental  character  of  a 
civil  contract.1 

The  Virgin,  who  occupies  so  high  a  place  in  the  Roman  Cath¬ 
olic  Church  of  modern  times,  was  comparatively  an  insignificant 
figure  in  the  early  ages.  Mention  is  made  of  her  with  respect, 
but  no  worship  is  rendered  to  her.  With  the  lapse  of  time  the 
historic  person  became  a  sacred  type.  This  was  not,  however, 
until  the  second  Oecumenical  Council,  that  of  381,  which  placed 
her  name  in  the  creed,  to  which  the  Fathers  of  Nicaea  had  not 
admitted  it. 

The  dogma  of  the  communion  and  intercession  of  saints  will 
also  not  be  formulated  until  the  fourth  century.  “At  the  altar,” 
Saint  Augustine  says,  “we  do  not  speak  of  the  martyrs  as  we  do 
of  the  faithful  who  rest  in  peace.  We  do  not  pray  for  them;  we 
entreat  them  to  pray  for  us.” 2  As  early  as  the  third  century, 
however,  there  is  a  trace  of  this,3  and  it  was  also  a  necessary 
consequence. 

Thus  was  formed  the  grand  epic  of  the  Christian  religion,  as 
the  song  of  some  old  klepht  became,  by  the  labor  of  successive 
generations,  the  Iliad  of  Homer ;  and  it  was  destined  to  be,  for  a 
long  succession  of  centuries,  the  consolation  and  the  delight  of 
souls.  But  the  new  poet  who  developed  the  primitive  germ  was 
the  Church,  or  rather  those  ardent  communities,  those  nocturnal 


1  Jesus  had  said  (Matt.  xxii.  30)  :  “In  the  resurrection  they  neither  marry,  nor  are  given 
in  marriage,”  and  Saint  Paul  accepted  mixed  unions  (1  Cor.  vii.  12-26  ),  —  a  doctrine  which  a 
council  again  sanctioned  in  314.  Saint  Paul  (Ephes.  v.  32)  calls  marriage  gvcrr^piov, —  a  Avord 
which  has  been  too  freely  translated  “  sacrament.”  Among  the  Romans  marriage  was  a  civil 
contract,  indispensable  for  the  constitution  of  the  family  and  the  reciprocal  rights  of  the  parties 
and  of  their  children,  and  the  Church  could  not  herself  change  its  conditions ;  but  she  joined 
to  it  her  prayers  and  her  benediction.  The  Council  of  Trent  (sess.  xxiv.)  recognized  that  in 
marriage  the  sacrament  had  the  effect  of  sanctifying  the  pre-existing,  contract :  gratiam  quae 
naturalem  ilium  amorem  perjiceret  .  .  .  conjugesque  sanctificaret. 

2  Commemoramus  .  .  .  ut  etiam  pro  eis  oremus,  sed  magis  ut  et  ipsi  pro  nobis  ( Tract .  84  in 
Evang.  S.  Joann.). 

3  Saint  Cyprian,  Ep.  57,  ad  Jinem.  The  doctrine  of  purgatory,  unknown  to  the  Evan¬ 
gelists  (St.  Luke  xvi.  26),  was  also  propounded  by  Saint  Augustine. 


20  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


assemblies,  whose  religious  wants  increased  with  the  contagion  of 
faith.  The  ignorant  led  on  the  learned ;  and  they,  drawing  freely 
from  the  triple  treasure  of  Biblical  poetry,  Grecian  philosophy,  and 
the  Gospel,  multiplied  the  dogmas,  made  the  forms  of  worship 
more  splendid,  and  changed  all,  thinking  that  they  had  changed 
nothing. 

The  ceremonies  varied,  for  the  liturgy,  or  rule  of  public  wor¬ 
ship,  had  not  its  present  unity,  each  church  being  at  liberty  to 
prepare  its  own.1  Saint  Clement,  in  the  century  preceding,  spoke 
of  this  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians .  This  bishop  of  the  mis¬ 
tress  city  of  the  world,  this  Bomanus,  as  he  is  called,  had  also 
previously  invoked  discipline  by  comparing  the  Church  to  the 
legions  of  Caesar,  in  which  the  chief  commands.2  His  successors 
finally  introduced  into  the  Church  the  same  rules  of  absolute 
obedience ;  and  the  fruitful  liberty  of  the  religious  life  of  the  early 
ages,  without  which  nothing  could  be  founded,  was  destined  to 
disappear,  giving  place  to  that  discipline  without  which  nothing 
endures. 

At  the  end  of  the  second  century  the  dogmatic  work  of  the 
Church  was  so  far  advanced  that  Clement  of  Alexandria,  writing 
in  the  reign  of  Severus,  sought  to  co-ordinate  its  parts  into  a 
scientific  system  constructed  with  the  ordinary  processes  of  human 
thought.  “Faith,”  he  said,  “is  the  science  of  divine  things  given 
bv  revelation ;  but  this  science  must  furnish  the  demonstration  of 
the  things  of  faith.”  And  he  composed  the  Stromata,  which,  though 
not  written  with  the  severe  method  of  Saint  Thomas,  are  never¬ 
theless  a  first  essay  of  Christian  philosophy.  Now,  it  is  a  sign  of 
power,  and  often  of  approaching  victory  for  ideas,  when  philosophy 
takes  them  up  and  formulates  them. 

1  See  in  the  third  volume  of  the  Analecta  Ante-Nicaeana  of  Bunsen,  the  fragments  of  the 
most  ancient  liturgies.  The  first  which  he  quotes  (p.  21)  was  used  at  Alexandria  in  the  time 
of  Origen ;  and  Bunsen  does  not  think  that  it  can  be  dated  earlier  than  the  middle  of  the 
second  century. 

2  KaTavorjacofjifv  tovs  arpaTevopevovs  rois  rjyovp.ei'ois  rjpcov  (vtuktoos  ttu>  etKovras  (Saint 
Clement,  Ad  Corinth.  37). 


THE  CHURCH  AT  BEGINNING  OF  THIRD  CENTURY. 


21 


I.  —  The  Hierarchy  and  Discipline. 

While  the  Church  was  thus  regulating  its  internal  life,  it  had 
been  led,  by  the  very  nature  of  its  efforts  to  propagate  the  faith, 
to  adopt  for  its  external  life  an  organization  which  the  strongest 
political  conceptions  have  never  equalled. 

The  Christian  communities  of  the  earliest  days  had  as  few  eccle¬ 
siastical  laws  as  they  had  sacraments ;  each  organizing  itself  after 
its  own  will.  In  the  time  of  Saint  Paul  numbers  of  brethren  were 
allowed  to  assume  an  office  or  a  title,  in  order  to  retain  them, 
by  the  gratification  of  a  very  human  sentiment,  —  the  wish 
to  have  a  certain  recognized  superiority.  We  know  how  fond 
the  fraternities,  the  cities,  and  the  whole  Roman  world  were  of 
this  hierarchal  order.1  “  God,”  says  Saint  Paul,  “  hath  set  some  in 
the  church,  first  apostles, 

.secondly  prophets,  thirdly 
teachers,  then  miracles, 
then  gifts  of  healings, 
helps,  governments,  divers 
kinds  of  tongues.”  2  This 
■strange  confusion  could 
not  last.  The  Greek 
cities  had  e7rux/co7roi,  or 
overseers,  —  a  kind  of 
aediles,  whose  duties  the 
Digest 3  defines  :  u  those 
who  have  charge  of  the 
provisions.”  The  first 
Christian  communities 
seem  to  have  borrowed 
this  municipal  function  and  its  name.5  At  their  head,  to  preside 

1  See  Vol.  Y.  chap.  lxxx.  “The  City.”  2  1  Cor.  xii.  28.  3  1.  4,  18,  sec.  7. 

4  From  a  gilded  glass  of  the  catacombs,  fourth  century  (Roller,  pi.  lxxix.  No.  5). 

6  This  is  the  opinion  of  several  theologians,  and  it  is  probably  correct.  Cf.  Waddington, 
Inscr.  de  Syrie,  p.  474.  We  even  find  inia-KOTvoi  in  the  Greek  fraternities  (see  Wescher,  Revue 
■arclie'oL,  April,  1866).  The  episcopal  cross  is  similar  to  the  lituus  of  the  Roman  augur.  Has  it 
been  borrowed  from  it,  or  does  it  come  from  the  shepherd’s  crook?  From  both,  doubtless,  but 
rather  from  the  latter. 


THE  APOSTLES  SAINT  PETEK  AND  SAINT  PAUL.4 


09 

<LJ  LA 


THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


over  their  meetings,  they  placed  the  one  most  venerable  by  age  or 
sanctity,  the  elder,  the  TTpecr/3vT€po<;.  Gradually  the  overseer,  who 
had  the  principal  active  duties,  rose  above  the  elder,  who  possessed 
only  the  dignity ;  or  rather  the  two  functions  were  united,  in 
some  places  from  the  very  first,  and  elsewhere  later.  Saint  Paul 
had  overseers  or  elders,  and  deacons  elected  in  all  the  churches  which 
he  instituted.  At  the  end  of  the  first  century  Saint  Clement,1 
in  the  middle  of  the  second,  Saint  Polycarp2  and  Saint  Justin,3  as 
yet  knew  only  these  two  orders ;  but  the  number  of  the  believers 
increasing,  that  of  the  ministers  of  the  religion  augmented,  and 
differences  became  marked.  On  the  other  hand,  to  the  heresies 
which  were  multiplying  it  was  necessary  to  oppose  discipline ;  that 
is  to  say,  a  concentration  of  authority.  In  the  time  of  Severus, 
the  important  Christian  fraternities  had  a  bishop  representing  the 
unity  of  spiritual  government,  priests  for  the  religious  offices,  dea¬ 
cons  for  the  service  of  the  temple, —  altogether  forming  the  clergy 
or  “  the  side  of  the  Lord.” 

These  offices  were  elective.  The  elders  chose  the  episcopus ,. 
and  presented  him  to  the  brethren,  who  then  confirmed  him  in 
his  office  by  acclamation.  They  also  confirmed,  by  the  raising  of 
hands,  the  appointment  of  priests  and  deacons  made  by  the  bishop. 
Thus  we  see  that,  though  the  consent  of  the  community  was 
necessary,  the  real  choice  depended  on  the  chief  persons.  In  this 
way  order,  indispensable  to  regular  life,  replaced  the  disorder  of 
the  early  times.  The  same  necessities  which  had  educed  from  the 
multitude  of  evangelical  writings  the  canon  of  the  Scriptures,  — 
that  is  to  say,  the  rule  of  faith,  —  had  insensibly  led  to  the 
establishment  in  each  Christian  community  of  the  hierarchy, — 
that  is  to  say,  the  administration,  —  as  later  they  led  to  the  for¬ 
mation  of  the  general  government  of  the  Church.  It  was  in  the 
logic  of  facts,  and  we  cannot  see  how  it  could  have  been  other¬ 
wise.  Without  this  discipline  there  would  have  been  no  Catholic 
Church. 

1  Acts  xx.  17-28;  1  Tim.  iii.  2-8  ;  Titus,  i.  5-7  ;  Saint  Clement,  Ad  Cor.  42  ;  Polycarp, 
Ad  Philipp.  5;  Saint  Jerome,  Comment,  in  Titum:  Idem  esl  presbyter  qui  et  episcopus  .  .  . 

2  Ad  Cor.  42. 

8  Ep.  ad  Philipp.  5,  6.  In  the  Pastor  of  Hernias  there  is  also  no  trace  of  an  episcopate. 
Mention  is  indeed  found,  in  the  letters  of  Saint  Ignatius,  of  bishops,  priests,  and  deacons ;  but 
the  different  texts  of  these  documents  give  rise  to  too  many  discussions  to  admit  of  producing 
them  as  unobjectionable  testimony. 


THE  CHURCH  AT  BEGINNING  OF  THIRD  CENTURY. 


23 


As  tradition  plays  an  important  part  in  the  Church,  the  old 
bishops  were  supposed  to  transmit  it  to  the  new ;  hence  the  con¬ 
secration  of  the  bishop-elect  by  a  bishop  of  the  vicinity,  and  the 
gradual  formation  of  ecclesiastical  provinces.  “  The  bishop,”  says 
the  fourth  canon  of  the  Council  of  Nicaea,  “  should  be  ordained  by 
three  bishops.” 

One  of  the  oldest  rights  of  Rome,  and,  we  may  say,  one 
of  the  dearest  to  the  Roman  people,  —  the  liberty  of  forming 
fraternities  and  societies,  —  favored  the  first  organization  of  the 
churches.1  By  taking  the  form  of  burial  associations,  the  Christians 
were  enabled  to  organize,  under  the  protection  of  the  law,  in  cor¬ 
porations  having  the  character  of  a  civil  person ;  that  is  to  say,  with 
the  right  to  receive  legacies  or  donations,  and  the  monthly  contribu¬ 
tions  of  their  members.  The  Mosaic  law  had  secured  to  the 
Levites  the  tenth  of  all  the  products  of  the 
earth.  Roman  usage  gave  a  new  force 
to  the  Hebrew  custom ;  and  as  the  syna¬ 
gogues  of  the  whole  Empire  formerly  sent 
their  gifts  each  year  to  the  temple  of  Jeru¬ 
salem,  the  believers  made  their  offering  to 
the  church  every  month.  Many  —  Saint 
Cyprian,  for  instance  —  sold  their  property 
and  gave  the  price  of  it  to  the  bishop. 

The  incumbent  of  the  Roman  see  received 
from  a  single  person  two  hundred  thousand 
sesterces,  and  the  Bishop  of  Carthage  was 
able  to  employ  half  as  much  money  for  the 
ransom  of  Christian  captives  carried  away  by 
the  Moors.2 3 

Each  church  had,  therefore,  a  revenue 
which  enabled  it  to  aid  the  poor  and  the  afflicted,  to  meet  the 

1  The  right  of  association  was,  according  to  the  testimony  of  Gains  (Digest,  xlviii.  22,  4) 
formally  recognized  by  the  Twelve  Tables.  Collegiis,  it  said,  potestcitem  facit  lex  (XII.  Tab  ) 
pactionem  quam  velint  sibi  ferre  dum  ne  quid  ex  publica  lege  cnrrumpant.  (See  Vol.  VI.  pp.  94 
et  seq .)  The  Romans  had  so  great  a  liking  for  these  associations  that  they  formed  them  even 
in  the  camps,  in  spite  of  an  express  inhibition  by  Severus. 

2  Tertullian,  De  Praescr.,  30 ;  Saint  Cyprian,  Ep.  60.  His  letter,  No.  65,  and  that  of  Pope 
Cornelius  ad  Fab.,  show  that  the  area  of  the  churches  began  to  have  considerable  resources. 
Even  at  this  time  some  of  the  bishops  misused  them.  Cf.  Saint  Cyprian,  De  Lapsis. 

3  Martigny,  Diet,  des  A  nt.  chret. 


24  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  ISO  TO  235  a.  d. 

expenses  of  public  worship  and  of  the  repasts  in  common,  tire 
(tgapae,  at  which  the  priests,  like  the  officers  of  the  pagan  soci¬ 
eties,  received  for  their  maintenance  a  double  portion;1  even  to 


THE  AGAPE.2 


acquire  land  whereon  to  establish  a  common  cemetery,  in  which 
nocturnal  assemblies  wefe  held.3 

The  catacombs  of  Calixtus,  in  which  so  many  popes  were 
interred,  were  already  in  existence  at  Rome  along  the  Appian  Way, 
and  Alexander  Severus  adjudged  to  the  Christians  an  estate  which 


1  On  the  Juplicares,  see  Vol.  VI.  p.  102.  Saint  Paul  had  recommended  this  custom  (1  Tim 
v.  17  18),  and  Tertullian  (De  Jejun.  17)  recalls  it:  Duplex  honor  Unis  partibus  praesiden- 
tibus  deputabatur.  The  confessors  were  often  honored  with  a  sacerdotal  gift,  (Saint  Cvprian 
Ep.  34).  The  agape  and  the  supper,  at  first  united,  kvPuikU  Uirwov  (\ Cor.  xi  20)  were’ 
separated  at  an  early  date.  At  the  end  of  the  fourth  century  Saint  Monica  still  brought 
to  the  church  bread  and  wine,  after  the  African  custom.  Saint  Ambrose  forbade  her 


2  From  a  painting  at  the  close  of  the  third  century  or  beginning  of  the  fourth,  in  the 
cemetery  of  Peter  and  Marcellinus  on  the  Via  Labicana  (Th.  Roller,  op.  cit.  pi.  liii.  fio-.  i). 

*  Tertulhan’  Apol.  39,  40.  In  some  cases  slaves  claimed  that  with  these  funds  they  mio-ht 
purchase  their  freedom.  Mr,  ipavuraav  anb  roC  soivat  IXeydepodadm  (Saint  Ignatius,  A d  Polvc.  2). 
On  the  C  hristian  cemeteries  of  Rome,  see  the  fine  work  of  the  Chevalier  de  Rossi  Roma 

<if\t  town  vi  on 


1  w  1  f  i  ^VW»Hv- 


rtga 

TOr-.v 


$g$g$/ 


’wgJM\ 


j  ✓  - 

il&SS& 


CRYPT  OF  POPE  SAINT  CORNELIUS  IN  THE  CATACOMBS  OF  CALIXTUS  :  SECOND  CENTURY 
(ROLLER,  LES  CATACOMBES  DE  ROME.,  PLATE  XXX.  1). 


The  library 
of  the 

Jor»«r*lty  of  IHtfwX* 


THE  CHURCH  AT  BEGINNING  OE  THIRD  CENTURY. 


or. 

40 


the  pagans  had  contested  with  them.  Ecclesiastical  property  began, 
therefore,  at  this  time  to  be  constituted,  as  had  been  that  of  the 
pagan  temples,  by  donations.  For  the  moment,  it  was  still  very 
small ;  but  it  was  one  day  to  become  very  large. 

At  a  later  period  the  Church  will  again  employ  the  convenient 
mould  of  the  imperial  administration,  and  will  be  able  to  till  it. 


[it  n~ifli.II.1. 1 


^  ^  / _ L _ : _ 

^  / - 

- - - A  — 

IiASIfJCA  OF  S.  LORENZO  FUORI  LE  MURA. 


The  civitas  with  its  vast  territory  will  form  the  diocese,  and  the 
civil  will  become  the  religious  metropolis ;  the  archbishop  will 
succeed  to  the  flamen  who  brought  to  .  the  altar  of  Rome  and 
Augustus  the  prayers  and  votive  offerings  of  the  entire  province  ; 
finally,  the  basilica  will  serve  as  a  church,  and  even  to  this  day 
we  preserve  in  thousands  of  places  the  Roman  usage  of  keeping 
the  women  separate  from  the  men.1 

The  societies  so  numerous  in  the  provinces  had  preserved  the 

1  In  the  upper  galleries  of  the  basilicas  the  men  were  on  one  side,  the  women  on  the  other 
(Pliny,  Epist.  vi.  33). 


26  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


Graeco-Roman  idea  of  popular  power,  which  the  Empire  had 
abandoned  in  fact  if  not  in  law ;  in  these  colleges  all  measures 
were  put  to  vote.  The  Church  followed  this  usage,  which  was  a 
matter  of  apostolic  tradition,1  and  the  popular  election  was  termed 
the  voice  of  God  ( vox  Dei).2  Alexander  Severus  was  so  struck  by 
the  advantages  of  this  system  that  he  for  a  moment  thought  of 
establishing  it  for  the  imperial  administration.3  In  the  civil  order, 
the  election  ended  all,  —  at  least  unless  the  law  recognized  the  right 
of  the  Emperor  to  approve  or  to  reject ;  in  the  Church,  another  act 
intervened,  —  the  laying-on  of  hands,  which  transmitted  spiritual 
powers  to  the  person  elected.4  This  rite,  indispensable  in  order 
that  the  election  should  have  its  religious  effect,  must  have  from 
the  beginning  reduced  the  vote  of  the  laity  to  a  simple  assent 
given  by  them  to  the  choice  which  the  elders  had  made. 

Another  essential  difference  was  this :  the  elections  in  the  civil 
society  were  annual ;  those  of  the  Church  conferred,  by  the  episcopal 
consecration,  a  permanent  character  and  a  life-office.  Thus  this 
democratic  society  gave  itself  an  aristocracy  which  changed  its 
members  very  slowly.  The  conservative  element  was  placed  above 
the  varying  element,  and  the  Church  enjoyed  the  chief  advantage  of 
hereditary  governments,  duration,  without  experiencing  its  incon¬ 
veniences  :  a  great  bishop  might  be  succeeded  by  another  still  greater. 
But  this  aristocracy  did  not  exercise  a  power  without  control. 
As  the  duumvir  was  in  a  certain  measure  dependent  on  the  curia, 
the  bishop  likewise  administered  with  the  council  of  the  priests,5 


1  When  the  Apostles  founded  the  first  ecclesiastical  office,  the  diaconate,  Saint  Peter  said  to 
those  present  (Acts  vi.  3)  :  “  Look  ye  out  therefore,  brethren,  from  among  you  seven  men  .  .  .” 
See,  in  vol.  viii.  of  the  Histoire  ecclesiastique  of  Fleury,  the  Discours  sur  Vhistoire  des  sir 
premiers  siecles  de  VlZglise,  secs.  v.  and  vi. 

2  '2vvev8oKr]crd<Tr]s  eKskpalas  Trdcrrjs  (Saint  Clement,  Ad  Cor.  44).  'J'qcfxo  tov  Xaov  7 rovror 
(Saint  Gregory  Nazianzen,  Orat.  24).  See  the  election  of  Fabian  at  Rome,  under  Gordian 
(Eusebius,  Hist.  eccl.  vi.  29),  and  that  of  Cyprian  at  Carthage.  Yet  at  the  end  of  the  second 
century  the  election  was  modified  and  the  powers  of  the  bishop  were  extended.  When  the 
priest  Novatus  appointed  a  deacon,  Saint  Cyprian,  his  bishop,  accused  him  of  usurpation 
(Ep.  52).  As  in  the  pagan  clergy,  certain  corporeal  defects  excluded  from  the  priesthood. 
See  in  Socrates  (Hist.  eccl.  iv.  23)  the  story  of  the  monk  Ammon,  who  cuts  off  one  ear  to 
escape  the  episcopate. 

8  Lamp.,  Alex.  Sev.  49. 

4  Acts  xiv.  23  :  ^eipoTnvrjcravTes  re  avrois  kcit  eKsbrjcriav  TrpecrftvTepovs,  and  ibid.  vi.  6  ;  viii. 
17;  ix.  17.  The  imposition  of  hands  was  an  old  Jewish  usage. 

8  ...  Et  antequam  diaboli  instinctu  studia  in  religione  jierent  .  .  .  communi  presby- 
terorum  consilio  ecclesiae  guberncibantur.  Postquam  vero  unusquisque  eos  quos  baptizaverat 


THE  CHURCH  AT  BEGINNING  OF  THIRD  CENTURY.  27 


and  they  assisted  him  in  deciding  the  questions  submitted  to  him 
by  the  laity.1 

All  associations  which  are  formed  outside  of  public  duties  and 
in  opposition  to  them  are  compelled  to  constitute  themselves  judges 
of  their  own  members.  The  Christian  community,  who  designated 
the  officers  of  the  churches  and  received  the  confession  of  the 
penitent,  also  made  saints,  without  the  formalities  required  for 
canonization  in  succeeding  centuries.  The  veneration  with  which 
the  multitude  of  believers  regarded  the  ^ombs  where  the  remains 
of  the  Christian  heroes  reposed,  sufficed  later  to  give  admission  to 
the  register  of  martyrs.2 

Among  the  primitive  churches  there  was  an  interchange  of 
counsels,  and  sometimes  “  a  mutual  and  salutary  admonition.” 3  Had 
they  gone  no  farther,  there  would  have  been  only  a  multitude  of 
Christian  communities,  but  they  never  would  have  made  a  church, 
any  more  than  a  group  of  independent  republics  constitutes  a  state. 
With,  however,  the  dogma  of  a  revealed  law  and  of  the  inspiration 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  transmitted  “  by  the  laying  on  of  hands,”  it 
was  a  necessary  consequence  that  the  Apostles  should  be  considered 
as  having  communicated  to  their  successors  “  the  certain  grace  of 
the  truth.”  The  latter  were  accordingly  held  to  be  the  depositaries 
of  the  oral  tradition,  which  made  it  possible  to  explain  and  extend 
the  written  tradition ;  that  is  to  say,  to  preserve  within  the  Church 
a  principle  of  development,  like  those  constitutions  of  our  time 
which  declare  themselves  subject  to  revision,  or  those  governments 
in  which  legislative  action  is  continually  modifying  the  ancient 


suos  putabat  esse,  non  Christi,  in  tolo  orbe  decretum  est  ut  unus  de  presbyteris  electus  super- 
poneretur  ceteris ,  ad  quern  omnis  ecclesiae  cura  pertineret  et  schismatum  semina  tollerentur 
(Saint  Jerome,  Ad  Tit.  c.  1,  p.  694,  ed.  of  1737,  and  Ep.  85,  or  101  in  tlie  edition  of  the  Bene¬ 
dictines,  vol.  iv.  p.  803).  He  there  describes  the  ancient  state  of  the  Church  at  Alexandria: 
.  .  .  Alexandrine,  a  Marco  evangelista  usque  ad  Heraclem  et  Dionysium  episcopos,  presbyteri 
semper  unum  ex  se  electum  in  excelsiori  gradu  collocatum  episcopum  nominabant,  quomodo  si 
exercitus  imperatorem  faciat.  These  words  are  confirmed  by  the  patriarch  Eutymiius,  Ann.* 
i.  330. 

1  Constitut.  Apost.  ii.  46. 

2  The  absence  of  this  canonization  is  one  of  the  arguments  employed  by  Pope  Benedict  XI V. 
( CEuvres ,  vi.  119-125)  in  refusing  to  Clement  of  Alexandria  the  title  of  sain  '. 

3  These  are  the  words  of  Saint  Clement  {Ad  Cor.  56)  :  'H  vovdiryms  v'  rroLovgeda  els  ciWy- 
\ovs  ko.\t]  ecTTLv.  These  letters  touch  upon  all  kinds  of  subjects,  and  were  often  written  in  the 
name  of  the  entire  community,  without  the  intervention  of  an  elder  or  a  bishop;  as  for 
instance-,  the  beautiful  letter  of  the  Christians  of  Lyons  to  their  brethren  in  Asia  Minor. 
(See  Yol.  V.  p.  501.) 


28  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  ISO  TO  235  a.  d. 


order  in  accordance  with  new  requirements.  What  our  statesmen 
call  “  reason,”  the  Church  calls  “the  Holy  Spirit;”  it  is  the  same 
thing,  with  this  difference,  —  that  the  one  counsels,  and  the  other 
commands. 

.  All  the  bishops  had  at  this  time  equal  authority,1  and  they 
were  very  numerous,  because  every  community  desired  to  have  its 
own.  This  equal  authority  would  only  have  been  a  cause  of  divi¬ 
sion,  had  not  the  necessity  of  concerted  action  and  mutual  under¬ 
standing  led  to  the  borrowing  of  still  another  institution  from  the 
Roman  commonwealth.  As  the  representatives  of  the  cities  were 
accustomed  to  assemble  in  the  capital  of  the  province,  so  the  repre¬ 
sentatives  of  the  Christian  communities  met  tos-ether  at  the  most 
important  see  in  the  region ;  and  these  provincial  assemblies,  of 
which  the  Empire  had  not  known  how  to  take  advantage,2  made 
the  fortune  of  the  Church.  When  any  difficulty  arose,  the  bishops 
consulted  ;  and  after  discussion,  decided  by  a  majority  of  the  votes 
what  should  be  believed  and  what  should  be  done.  Was  it  not 
written  in  the  Gospel :  “For  where  two  or  three  are  gathered 
together  in  my  name,  there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them”?  What 
was  this  but  to  say  that  the  decisions  of  the  councils  were  inspired 
by  the  Holy  Spirit?3  The  priests  and  deacons  who  sat  with  the 
bishops,4  gave  to  these  assemblies  a  democratic  character,  —  which 
is  a  great  advantage  for  those  who  deliberate  upon  the  interests  of 
a  newly  formed  society. 

This  institution,  destined  to  play  a  very  important  part, 
appeared  towards  the  close  of  the  second  century.  The  record  has 
been  preserved  of  only  two  assemblies  of  this  sort  before  the  time 

1  Saint  Cyprian,  writing  to  Pope  Stephen  on  the  subject  of  the  bishops  of  Gallia  Narbonen- 
sis,  savs :  Coepiscopi  nostri  ( Ep .  67);  and  in  his  letter  No.  72  we  read:  .  .  .  Non  ler/em  damns, 
anando  liabeat  in  Eccelsiae  administratione  voluntatis  suae  arbitrium  liberum  unusquisque  prae- 
positus  rationem  actus  sui  Domino  redditurus.  See  also  the  words  used  by  Saint  Cyprian  when 
inviting  the  Fathers  of  the  Third  Council  of  Carthage  to  vote  with  absolute  freedom,  since  no 
one  of  them  thinks  of  being  an  episcopus  episcoporum,  or  is  inclined  to  impose  his  will  on  his 
colleagues,  —  words  which  certainly  were  an  allusion  to  the  pretensions  of  Stephen. 

2  See  Yol.  IV.  pp.  187,  et  seq.,  and  372;  ami  Yol.  \  I.  p.  167. 

8  See  p.  9.  Saint  Cyprian  writes  to  Pope  Cornelius  ( Ep .  54)  on  the  subject  of  the  Coun¬ 
cil  of  252  :  .  .  .  Placuit  nobis,  sancto  Spiritu  suqqerente.  Constantine  will  call  the  decisions 
of  the  Synod  of  Arles,  caeleste  judicium ,  and  will  add :  Sacerdotum  judicium  ita  debet  haberi 
ac  si  ipse  Dominus  residens  judicet  (Ilardouin,  Collect,  concil.  i.  268).  Gregory  the  Great 
declared  the  authority  of  the  first  four  Oecumenical  Councils  equal  to  that  of  the  four 
Gospels. 

4  Eusebius,  Hist.  eccl.  vii.  30 


THE  CHURCH  AT  EEGIXX1XG  OE  THIRD  CENTURY. 


29 


of  Severus,  and  of  two  others  during  his  reign.  —  if  we  do  not  count 
those  of  the  year  190.  which  wore  held  at  Rome,  in  Palestine,  in 
Fontus,  at  Corinth,  in  Mesopotamia,  and  elsewhere.1  to  fix  the  date  of 
Easter,  which  determined  the  time  of  many  Christian  festivals  and 
of  certain  religious  obligations.  In  the  following  generation  Saint 
Cvprian  convoked  sixty  African  bishops  to  decide  upon  measures  to 
be  taken  against  the  lapsi.  and  eighty-seven  to  determine  the  ques¬ 
tion  of  the  baptism  of  heretics.2  This  new  and  superior  jurisdiction 
diminished  the  liberty  of  the  individual  churches,  but  was  the  only 
means  of  making  a  general  Church.  In  the  fourth  century  the 
Church  will  advance  farther  on  this,  road  towards  unity  of  faith 
and  discipline,  instituting  the  Oecumenical  Councils,  which  will 
decide  among  the  provincial  councils,  as  the  latter  had  decided 

among  individual  Christian  communities.3 

Thus  the  Church  had  naturally,  by  the  conditions  of  its 
historical  development,  acquired  a  constitution  superior  to  that  of 
pagan  society,  and  it  had  found  the  chief  elements  of  this  con¬ 

stitution  in  the  remnant  of  liberties  which  the  Empire  had  left 
in  the  midst  of  the  towns  and  provinces.  The  Church  was 

a  representative  democracy,  having  great  vitality  through  the 
participation  of  the  people  in  affairs  of  common  interest,  and, 
through  its  councils,  great  power  of  cohesion.  The  authority  of 

the  episcopate,  which  increased  in  spite  of  cases  of  local  resistance,4 
will  soon  augment  this  union. 

Certain  sees,  —  those  of  Alexandria,  of  Antioch,  ami , of  Rome, — 
enjoyed  a  special  consideration.  due  to  the  importai/ee  of  the  cities 
where  tlicv  were  established.  and  to  the  belief  that,  having  been 
founded  by  the  Apostles.  a  purer  form  of  tradition  had  been  pre¬ 
served  in  them.  Eusebius  in  his  Ecclesiastical  History  gives 

1  See  L' .1  i’t  A  t\n]h.r  </'it(s.  and  Ilefele.  (.’nucihtm/fschichtt ,  i.  CO  ct  .</>].  It  is 
doubtless  to  these  synods  that  I’ertullian  alludes  (R<  J (Jiniiis .  13).  I  do  not,  of  course,  mention 
what  is  called  the  Council  of  Jerusalem,  between  the  years  b<>  and  o'l.  The  Council  of  the 
Province  of  Ada.  which  included  a  great  number  of  bishops.  differed  on  this  point  from  the 
opinion  of  Rome,  and  this  division  lasted  for  centuries  (Klciiry,  llist.  reel.  i.  ols). 

*  These  eighty-seven  bishops  belonged  to  proconsular  Africa,  Xuinidia,  and  Mauretania. 
This  council  appears  to  be  of  the  year  itdii. 

3  The  term  ••oecumenical  council”  signifies  an  assemblage  of  t lie  bishops  of  t lie  whole 
habitable  earth;  but  for  a  long  while  the  limits  of  the  organized  Church  were  the  frontiers  of 
the  Empire. 

4  This  resistance  to  t lie  absorption  of  the  Church  by  the  bishop  was  doubtless  the  real 
cause  of  the  struggles  of  Eclieissimus  again.-t  Cyprian,  and  of  Ilippolytus  against  Calixtus. 


30 


THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCE 


iso  to  a.  j*. 


to  them,  in  the  fourth  century,  a  special  dignity,  which  the 
Council  of  Xicaea  confirmed.  Although  as  yet  there  had  not  gone 
forth  from  the  Roman  Church  either  an  illustrious  theologian  or  any 
of  those  great  words  which  provoke  or  terminate  fiery  disputes,1 * 
men  must  naturally  have  been  led  to  recognize  a  primacy  of 
honor  in  the  bishop  of  the  capital  of  the  world,  in  the  see,  the 
only  one  in  all  the  West,  which  was  regarded  as  of  apostolic 
origin,  which  was  said  to  have  been  consecrated  bv  the  blood  of  Saint 
Peter  and  Saint  Paul,  and  in  which  their  tombs  were  to  be  seen. 
Saint  Ignatius  of  Antioch,  under  Trajan,  in  his  letter  to  Pie 
Christians  of  Rome,  makes  no  allusion  to  the  special  power  of 
their  bishop.  From  their  prisons  the  confessors  of  Lyons  write  to 
him,  it  is  true,  recommending  the  union  of  the  churches ;  but  the}7 
address  the  same  recommendation  to  their  brethren  of  Asia,  —  words 
of  peace,  which  on  the  eve  of  suffering,  the  martyrs  often  sent 
to  other  Christian  assemblies.  Towards  the  end  of  the  second 
century  the  inevitable  evolution  began.  The  transalpine  churches 
were  the  first  to  gather  around  the  apostolic  see.  Saint  Ire- 
naeus  recognized  in  it  a  certain  moral  superiority.'  while  at  the 
same  time  combating  the  opinion  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome  in  the 
dispute  which  the  latter  maintained  with  the  Eastern  churches. 
However,  the  ecclesiastical  history  of  the  first  half  of  the  third  cen¬ 
tury —  notably  the  letters  of  Firmilianus  to  Saint  Cyprian  against 
Pope  Stephen,3  of  the  Bishop  of  Carthage  to  the  prelates  of  Xumidia, 
and  those  of  the  bishops  who  blamed  Pope  Victor  strongly  in  the 
affair  concerning  Easter 4 * *  —  proves  that  no  doctrinal  pre-eminence 
had  been  as  vet  accorded  to  the  see  of  Rome.  Among  the  great  sees 

1  Saint  Clement’s  Epistle/to  the  Corinthian?,  and  tlie  Parlor,  ascribed  to  Hennas,  contain 
nothing  dogmatic.  .  / 

-  .  .  .  Propter  pntinrem  principalitnlati  (A>lr.  lour.  iii.  3).  Saint  Cyprian  ( Epist .  ah')  also 
calls  the  see  of  Rome  Ecckria  principal! >•.  Despite  the  famous  passage.  i-\  tovti/  t?/  jrtVpu 
oiKoSofjLrjaa  fiov  ti)v  t kk\tj<tici:',  Saint  Peter  did  not  enjoy  any  special  privilege  among  the 
Apostles  (Matt.  xvi.  IS;  John  xxi.  13-17). 

3  Cyprian,  Epirt.  27,  33,  71.  Firmilianus  was  bishop  of  Caesarea  in  Cappadocia;  his 
vehement  letter  against  Stephen,  touching  the  nullity  of  baptism  administered  by  heretics  or 
those  who  have  relapsed  into  error,  is  found  ftp.  Cppr.  Epist.  Xo.  73.  lie  was  an  important 
personage  in  the  Eastern  Church,  for  we  read  that  Origen  sought  refuge  with  him  when 
Rishop  Demetrius  compelled  the  African  prelate  to  leave  Alexandria. 

4  rrXijK  TiKWTtpov  KoOa-rofitv cor  to?  BiVnpn?  (Eiisebiit'.  II, st,  cert.  v.  21,  11).  Tn  the  affair 

of  the  Xovatians,  where  the  Pope  deposed  two  Italian  bishops,  it  was  as  metropolitan  that  he 

did  this,  and  after  they  had  been  condemned  by  a  synod  (ibi<l.  vi.  13). 


THE  CHURCH  AT  BEGINNING  OF  THIRD  CENTURY. 


31 


there  are  gradations,  but  no  subordination.  The  need  of  union  for 
defence  will  at  a  later  period  establish  a  hierarchy ;  the  primacy  of 
honor  will  be  changed  into  primacy  of  jurisdiction ;  and  the  Pope 1 
will  have  an  empire  more  vast  than  that  of  the  Emperors.  The 
centre  of  Christendom  could  not  be  elsewhere  than  at  the  tomb  of 
•Christ  or  in  the  capital  of  the  world.  The  destruction  of  Jerusalem 
by  Titus  and  Hadrian  made  the  pontifical  fortune  of  Rome. 

Before  this  supreme  achievement  of  the  hierarchy  had  taken 
place,  unity  was  established,  —  thanks  to  the  constant  intercourse 
of  the  Christian  fraternities  among  themselves.  They  interchanged 
the  letters  of  bishops  and  the  canons  of  councils,  the  churches 
who  accepted  them  by  that  act  acknowledging  themselves  to  be  “in 
communion  ”  with  those  who  had  sent  them.  Union  appearing  to 
be  a  necessity,  concessions  were  made  on  points  of  secondary  im¬ 
portance,  to  avoid  divisions  which  would  have  exposed  the  believers 
to  perils  greater  than  persecution ;  hence  the  changes  which  were 
carried  into  effect,  imposed  by  circumstances,  were  in  addition  the 
logical  development  of  the  primitive  doctrine  and  discipline.  Thus 
the  Catholic  Church  grew  up  gradually  through  the  union  of  the 
individual  churches.  About  the  middle  of  the  third  century  a  man 
of  signal  ability,  Saint  Cyprian,  presented  the  formulary  of  this 
union  in  a  treatise  on  the  Unity  of  the  Church,  in  which  he 
asserted  that  the  Christian  societies  must  remain  in  communion 
among  themselves  and  with  the  apostolic  see,  which  is  the  centre 
of  Christendom. 

“  The  primacy,”  he  says,  “  was  given  to  Peter  to  show  that 
“there  is  but  one  Church ;  but  the  Apostles  ^vere  what  Peter  was. 
The  episcopate  is  one,  and  all  the  bishops  are  pastors ;  they  have 
but  one  flock.  The  Church  likewise  is  one,  and  it  is  diffused  by 

1  The  bishops,  even  the  clergy,,  bore  this  title.  The  name  of  “  pope,”  which  is  synonymous 
with  “  father,”  was  not  assigned  exclusively  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome  until  in  later  centuries. 
As  regards  universal  jurisdiction,  —  or,  as  ecclesiastical  writers  now  say,  “  primacy  of  vigilance 
and  inspection,” —  the  history  of  the  Church  in  the  third  century  does  not  warrant  the  recog¬ 
nition  of  it  in  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  and  a  long  time  will  yet  pass  before  it  is  found.  The 
Emperor  Gratian,  Yalentinian,  and  Theodosius,  having  desired  to  fix  by  the  constitution  of 
380  {Cod.  Tried.  xvi.  1,  2)  the  religion  of  their  people  (cunctos  populos  .  .  .  in  tali  volumus 
religione  versari ),  g>e  them  as  a  rule  of  faith  the  doctrines  taught  by  the  bishops  of  Rome 
and  of  Alexandria,  whv  are  thus  placed  in  the  same  rank.  The  constitution  of  421  (ibid. 
xvi.  245)  records  that  if  "n  Ulyricum  any  doubt  shall  arise  concerning  the  ancient  canons, 
the  matter  shall  be  referred  to  the  bishop  of  the  city  of  Constantinople,  quae  veteris  Romae 
joraerogativa  laetatur. 


32  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  i>. 


its  fruitfulness  into  several  persons.”  The  Rome  see,  then,  is 
in  his  eyes  the  sign,  and  not  the  rule,  of  the  unity,  which  was  to 
him  the  result  of  the  common  concurrence  of  all  the  members. 
The  needs,  and  the  ideas  to  which  these  needs  gave  rise,  did  not 
at  that  time  require  a  greater  concentration  of  spiritual  authority. 

Of  all  these  innovations,  the  most  important  in  its  historical 
consequences  was  the  formation  of  a  class  of  men  not  before  in 
existence,  —  except,  perhaps,  in  the  interior  of  the  peninsula  of  Hin- 
dostan.  By  the  celibacy  which  will  hereafter  be  imposed  upon  him, 
the  Christian  priest  will  become  a  new  being  in  creation,  as,  by 
spiritual  consecration,  which  neither  civil  authority  nor  popular 
election  can  give,  he  becomes  a  man  apart  in  society.  But 
the  renunciation  of  the  conditions  of  human  nature  will  acquire 
for  him  a  personal  power  in  addition  to  the  religious  power 
that  secured  to  him  the  right  to  remit  sins  and  to  bring  down 
God  upon  the  earth  in  the  sacrifice  of  the  altar.  These  priests  will 
most  frequently  be  good  men,  of  an  angelic  purity,  and  with  a 
devotion  equal  to  any  sacrifice ;  but  sometimes  also  they  will  be 
•  men  of  such  pride  that  they  will  set  their  feet  on  the  necks  of 
kings.  Hence  they  will  become  formidable  to  civil  society,  because, 
being  placed  outside  of  it,  they  constitute  a  great  sacerdotal  body, 
desiring,  and  by  virtue  of  its  doctrines  required,  to  seek  by  every 
means  to  prevail  over  society. 

There  was  then  about  to  be  introduced  into  the  Western  world 
a  condition  the  opposite  of  what  Rome  had  known  and  practised 
for  ten  centuries ;  namely,  the  separation  of  the  clergy  and  the 
laity,  of  the  Church  and  the  State.  In  the  Graeco-Roman  world 
the  union  of  the  believer  with  the  divinity  was  directly  realized  r 
the  father  of  the  family  was  the  priest  of  its  gods.  The  Christian 
required  an  intermediary  to  enter  into  communion  with  the  object 
of  his  worship.  This  produces  a  diminution  of  the  individual  dig¬ 
nity  of  the  believer,  while  the  authority  of  the  body  exclusively 
devoted  to  religious  service  is  greatly  increased  by  it.  Attached 
to  the  priestly  office  for  life  by  their  faith  and  by  their  interests, 
since  they  live  by  the  altar,1  these  men  consecrated  heir  activity, 


1  A  Christian  community  of  Rome,  which,  in  the  time  of  r  jpe  Zephyrimus  and  the 
Emperor  Severus,  wished  to  have  its  especial  bishop,  assured  him  150  denarii  per  month. 
(Eusebius,  Hist.  eccl.  v.  29). 


THE  APOSTLES  ;  VASE  OF  THE  FOURTH  CENTURY,  IN  THE  KIRCHER  MUSEUM  (ROLLER,  PL.  LXXIII.  3). 


The  Library 
•f  the 

IMwtlty  ol  Htt*>«4a 


THE  CHURCH  AT  BEGINNING  OF  THIRD  CENTURY. 


33 


their  genius,  their  holiness,  and  sometimes  their  blood,  to  the 
a^o-randizement  of  the  Church.  And  as  it  is  in  the  nature  of 
every  corporate  body  to  work  unremittingly  to  extend  its  influ¬ 
ence  and  its  privileges,  the  establishment  of  the  clergy,  such  as  it 
has  been  now  described,  secured  to  the  Church  a  formidable  army, 
which  at  the  outset  prevented  it  from  perishing,  and  afterwards 
rendered  it  victorious.  Never  did  the  most  loyal  praetorian  guard 
render  to  its  Emperor  so  great  service  as  the  Church  has  received 
from  the  sacerdotal  corps.  The  repository  of  religious  doctrine  and 
of  moral  truth,  it  has  defended  the  one  according  to  the  time 


RESURRECTION  OF  THE  DAUGHTER  OF  JAIRUS. 1 


and  the  place,  with  the  spirit  of  gentleness,  of  sacrifice,  or  of 
unpitying  hardness  ;  but  it  has  preserved  the  other  in  the  darkest 
days  of  history,  and  still  teaches  it. 

Thus  the  Church  developed  harmoniously  its  twofold  life, 
doctrinal  and  disciplinary.  One  thing  alone  diminished  in  it,  —  the 
virtue  of  the  miracle.  In  proportion  as  it  had  been  extended 
more  widely,  it  had  lost  that  power  which,  to  be  admitted,  has 
need  of  remoteness  in  time  and  space.  The  faith  of  the  simple 
had  filled  with  marvellous  deeds  the  history  of  the  early  days ; 
Saint  Irenaeus  still  believed  u  that  the  genuine  disciples  of  Christ 
could  deliver  those  possessed,  foretell  the  future,  heal  the  sick, 

1  From  a  mutilated  sarcophagus.  Four  different  scenes  follow  in  succession  on  this  bas- 
relief.  1st,  on  the  left,  Moses  striking  the  rock;  2d,  adoration  of  Christ  by  four  persons, 
among  whom  two  are  weeping  and  veiling  their  faces ;  3d,  the  resurrection  of  the  daughter  of 
the  chief  of  the  synagogue  of  Capernaum  ;  4tli,  Christ  standing  with  his  right  hand  raised. 
This  last  part  is  incomplete  (E.  Le  Blant,  Etude  sur  les  sarcophages  chretiens  antiques  de  la 
ville  d’ Arles,  pi.  xvii.  and  p.  28). 


VOL.  VII. 


3 


34  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


and  raise  the  dead.”1  The  doctors  of  the  age  of  which  we  are 
speaking  beheld  these  wonders  no  longer,  while  still  believing  that 
they  might  see  them ;  and  Origen  shows  us  how  enfeebled  was  the 
divine  gift,  daring  to  speak  only  of  “  the  vestiges  of  them  which 
exist  among  the  Christians.”  After  the  passage  of  another  half- 
century  we  hear  the  Bishop  of  Caesarea  acknowledge  sadly  that 
even  these  vestiges  have  disappeared.2 

In  contrast  with  the  strong  organization  of  the  Church  should 
be  placed  the  weakness  of  the  imperial  clergy.  Heads  of  Christian 
communities,  the  bishops,  are  judges  for  heaven,  and  judges  also  for 
earth ;  for  the  brethren  acquire  the  habit  of  submitting  to  them  the 
differences  which  arise  among  themselves.  The  pagan  priests  —  mere 
masters  of  ceremonies  in  the  religious  solemnities — had  neither  vast 
domains  and  revenues  of  their  own,  as  the  Church  will  possess 
when  its  turn  shall  come  to  combat  innovators,  nor  jurisdiction 
which  gave  them  subjects,  nor  public  teaching  securing  them 
disciples ;  and  paternal  authority,  by  closing  to  them  the  interior 
of  the  family,  kept  the  women  and  children  out  of  their  in¬ 
fluence.  The  old  clergy  was  therefore  incapable  of  contending 
with  the  new.  The  attack  was  admirably  conducted ;  the  defence 
was  very  poor.  Shouts  of  the  populace  and  sentences  to  death,  — 
that  is  to  say,  acts  of  violence,  —  were  not  sufficient  to  hinder  the 
spread  of  a  religion  which,  born  of  the  spirit,  could  have  been 
arrested  or  restrained  only  by  the  spirit. 

1  Tertullian  ( De  Sped.  29)  recognized  also  in  Christians  the  power  to  drive  out  devils,  to 
perform  miraculous  cures,  and  to  receive  divine  revelations.  But  when  the  interlocutor  of  Saint 
Theophilus  of  Antioch  demands  for  his  conversion  that  the  bishop  should  show  him  a  dead 
person  raised  to  life,  Theophilus  replies  to  him  {Ad  Autolycum,  i.  8) :  “  Do  as  the  laborer  who 
sows  before  he  harvests ;  as  the  voyager  and  the  sick  who  believe,  the  one  in  the  pilot  before 
arriving  in  port,  the  other  in  the  physician  before  recovering  his  health.”  And  he  is  indeed 
right:  belief  in  miracles  requires  a  special  disposition  of  mind;  a  man  believes  in  them,  not 
because  he  sees  them,  but  because  he  thinks  he  sees  them.  This  is  the  very  expression  of  the 
bishop:  “  It  is  necessary  to  believe  in  order  to  see.” 

2  Origen,  Contra  Celsum,  i.  2  ;  Eusebius,  Hist.  eccl.  v.  7. 


THE  CHURCH  AT  BEGINNING  OF  THIRD  CENTURY.  35 


V.  —  The  Heresies. 

Armed  with  its  canonical  books  and  its  ardent  faith,  sustained 
by  its  hierarchy,  fortified  by  its  discipline,  the  Church  advanced 
slowly  but  surely  to  the  conquest  of  the  world.  To  the  anarchy 
of  doctrines  it  opposed  the  simplicity  of  its  dogma ;  to  philosophic 
freedom,  the  unity  of  its  spirit ;  and  it  cast  out  of  its  fold  those 
who,  in  the  common  Credo ,  sought  “to  make  their  selection.”1 

The  narratives  of  the  Gospels  and  the  doctrinal  exhortations  of 
the  Epistles  had  sufficed  for  the  simple  men  whom  the  Church 
recruited  in  the  first  century.  But  when,  in  the  second,  the  faith 
reached  cultivated  minds,  these  persons  desired  to  co-ordinate  their 
beliefs,  and  solve  by  the  processes  of  the  schools  the  questions 
which  they  involved.  Then  was  produced,  in  the  solutions  of 
religious  problems,  the  same  diversity  that  we  have  elsewhere  seen 
in  philosophical  solutions.  Many  said,  like  the  Clement  of  the 
Christian  romance  of  the  Icecognitiones,  “  I  am  sick  in  soul,”  and 
sought  by  the  most  diverse  ways  a  remedy  for  these  sufferings  of 
the  spirit,  more  agonizing  than  any  bodily  pain. 

The  Christian  sects  drew  their  inspiration,  it  is  true,  from  the 
same  book  ;  but  this  book  admitted  of  a  thousand  different  inter¬ 
pretations,  and  the  prophecy  of  Simeon  was  fulfilled  :  “  Behold,  this 
child  is  set  .  .  .  for  a  sign  which  is  spoken  against.”  2  Even  after 
the  Council  of  Nicaea,  Saint  John  Chrysostom  could  say :  “  The 
mysteries  of  Scripture  are  like  the  pearls  which  fishermen  search 
for  in  the  depths  of  the  sea.  It  is  difficult  to  penetrate  its 
meaning,  still  more  difficult  for  all  to  comprehend  it  in  the  same 
manner.” 3  Infinite  was,  accordingly,  the  number  of  solutions 
proposed,  and  each  solution  found  ready  to  accept  it  some  of  those 
men  whom  Saint  James  describes  as  “carried  about  with  every 
wind  of  doctrine.”  There  were  few  great  Christian  communities 
whose  bishop  was  not  obliged  to  refuse  the  kiss  of  peace  to  men 
who  presumed  to  discuss  their  faith. 

The  author  of  the  Philosophumena  enumerates  thirty-two 

1  Heretic  signifies  in  Greek,  “  the  one  who  chooses.” 

2  St.  Luke  ii.  34 :  Ecce  positus  eat  ...  in  signum  cui  contradicetur. 

8  Horn,  xiv.,  on  the  second  chapter  of  Genesis. 


36  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


heresies.1  “  Under  the  fire  of  persecution  they  swarmed,”  says 
Tertullian,  “  like  scorpions  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile  under  the 
burning  rays  of  the  summer  sun.”  We  must  leave  to  writers  of 
religious  history  the  study  of  these  subtle  discussions  and  of  the 
rash  audacity  which  has  made  humanity  expend  so  much  time 
and  thought  in  vainly  sounding  the  unfathomable.  It  will  be 
sufficient  for  us  to  say  that  two  principal  categories  of  these 
insubordinate  believers  have  been  made,  passing  by  insensible 
shades  from  almost  complete  orthodoxy  to  the  absolute  denial 
of  a  fundamental  dogma,  —  the  heretics  of  interpretation,  who- 
changed  the  meaning  or  the  text  of  the  Scriptures ;  and  the 
heretics  of  inspiration,  who  preached  another  law.  Even  in 
the  time  of  the  Apostles,  Cerinthus  had  regarded  Jesus  as  a  man ; 
a  little  later,  Ebion  —  or  at  least  the  Ebionites  —  believed  him  to 
have  been  born  of  Joseph  and  Mary,  admitting  that  he  had  by  his 
virtue  merited  the  descending  of  the  Holy  Spirit  upon  him.  These 
tenacious  doctrines,  found  in  the  second  century  in  the  singular 
book  of  the  Recognitiones  and  in  the  Pastor  of  Hennas,  had  been 
lately  again  advanced  by  Artemon  and  Theodotus  of  Byzantium.  A 
bishop  of  Antioch,  Paul  of  Samosata,  shortly  after  took  them  up 
again,  and  they  were  destined  to  culminate  in  the  great  heresy 
of  Arius.  Now,  to  deny  the  divinity  of  Christ,  or,  like  the  Docetae* 
to  reject  his  humanity,  was  to  undermine  the  foundation  of  the  new 
religious  edifice ;  and  again,  it  was  shaken  if,  with  Praxeas  and 
Sabellius,  the  Son  was  confounded  with  the  Father :  but  to  assume, 
as  Montanus  did,  the  character  of  prophet,  was  to  change  its  con¬ 
stitution  and  expose  it  to  all  the  tempests  raised  by  frenzied 
mysticism.  If  the  former  prevailed,  religion  was  destroyed,  since 
the  great  mystery  of  God  made  man  disappeared ;  if  the  latter, 
there  was  an  end  to  organization,  that  is,  to  the  constant  acting 
of  force  in  the  same  direction,  since  “  the  Spirit  bloweth  where  it 
listeth,”  —  doctrinal  unity  was  at  an  end,  and  the  universal  Church 
no  longer  existed. 

This  latter  variety  of  heresy  was  especially  formidable  because 
among  the  Christians  it  was  constantly  held  that  the  gift  of  pro- 

1  In  the  fourth  century  Saint  Epiphanius  reckons  sixty,  and  Themistius  says  that 
the  Greeks  have  three  hundred,  different  theories  as  to  the  Divinity  (Socrates,  Historia  eccles. 
iv.  32). 


THE  CHURCH  AT  BEGINNING  OF  THIRD  CENTURY.  37 


phecy,  while  it  had  become  enfeebled,  had  not  ceased  in  the 
Church. 

It  had  been  said  to  the  Apostles :  “  I  will  pray  the  Father, 
and  he  shall  give  you  another  Comforter.  .  .  .  But  the  Com¬ 
forter,  even  the  Holy  Spirit,  .  .  .  shall  teach  you  all  things.” 
The  mystics  drew  authority  from  these  words,  and  many  be¬ 
lieved,  with  Tertullian,  that  Montanus  received  the  inspiration 
promised  by  Jesus.  But  this  belief  in  special  revelations,  which 
destroyed  the  Gospel  revelation  while  pretending  to  continue  it,  has 
given,  and  still  gives,  rise  to  the  most  dangerous  sects.  Marcion, 
in  opposing  to  each  other  the  Old  and  the  New  Testament,  had 
already  laid  the  foundation  for  Manichaeism. 

In  the  midst  of  so  many  doctrines  the  Church  made  its 
choice  with  the  wonderful  spirit  of  order  and  government  which  it 
seems  to  have  inherited  from  those  who  persecuted  it.  Although 
it  had  as  yet  determined  only  the  main  outlines  of  the  temple 
which  it  was  to  rear,  it  had  already,  in  the  third  century,  its  im¬ 
movable  Capitoline  rock  ( Capitolii  immobile  saxum ),  against  which 
the  unceasing  waves  of  heresy  beat  in  vain.  Irenaeus  had  just 
been  writing  against  the  Gnostics ;  Tertullian  was  engaged  with 
the  Yalentinians  and  the  Marcionites,  with  Hermogenes,  who 
maintained  the  eternity  of  matter,  with  Praxeas,  who  was  attacking 
the  dogma  of  the  Trinity ;  the  Bishop  of  Antioch  had  condemned 
Montanus;  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  Tlieodotus  of  Byzantium,  and  Minu- 
cius  wrere  arguing  against  the  pagans.1  The  Church  then  knew 
her  own  will ;  and  her  sons,  in  listening  to  her,  felt  that  they 
“  rose  from  the  profound  night  of  error  into  the  full  light  of 
wisdom  and  truth,” 2  while  others,  the  philosophers,  or  “those 
who  made  a  choice,”  were  wandering  at  random.  Finally,  the 
Christian  body  already  possessed  what  paganism  never  had,  —  a 
mighty  force  of  discipline.  By  all  these  things  its  victory  is 
explained. 

1  Minucius  Felix  was  a  Roman  lawyer.  In  his  Octavius  he  essays  to  imitate  Cicero  and 
Plato ;  but,  with  the  exception  of  a  pleasing  preamble,  his  pretended  dialogue  is  only  two 
successive  discourses.  In  the  one  he  makes  accusations  against  the  Christians,  in  the  other 
he  refutes  them ;  and  nowhere  does  he  set  forth  the  dogma.  It  is  a  plea,  sometimes  violent, 
always  superficial,  but  written  with  a  certain  elegance  of  style,  and  composed  for  men  of 
letters. 

2  .  .  .  Discussa  caligine,  de  tenebrarum  profundo  in  lucem  sapientiae  et  veritatis  emerrjere 

(Minucius,  Oct.  1). 


38  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


Along  with  this  strength  the  Church  had  also  its  weak  points, — 
in  some  of  its  clergy  a  spirit  of  pride  and  insubordination  which 
led  to  lamentable  falls ; 1  among  the  members,  vices  which  are  too 
strongly  planted  in  our  nature  for  faith  to  be  always  able  to  repress 
them,2  or  the  hypocritical  profession  of  sanctity  in  order  to  profit 
by  the  alms  of  the  brethren ;  in  the  days  of  trial  which  are  to  come, 
numerous  apostasies,3  explained  by  the  fact  that  the  Church  was 
chiefly  recruited  from  among  the  lower  classes,4  in  which  were 
found  so  many  men  “  lions  in  peace,  timid  deer  in  time  of 
conflict;”5  and  finally,  in  the  clerical  order  itself,  rivalries  and 
quarrels  which  led  to  schism  or  heresy.6  Born  on  the  same  day, 

1  Those  of  Tertullian,  Origen,  Tatian,  etc.  Saint  Justin  and  Saint  Irenaeus  had  adopted 
the  doctrine  of  the  Millenarians,  and  Clement  of  Alexandria  sometimes  borders  on  heresy. 

2  Origen  goes  so  far  as  even  to  say,  “  Certain  churches  are  changed  into  dens  of  thieves  ” 
(In  Matth.  xvi.  8,  22;  xi.  9,  15).  Saint  Cyprian  accused  the  priest  Novatus  of  having  suffered 
his  father  to  die  of  hunger,  caused  his  wife  to  miscarry  by  his  brutalities,  and  committed, 
after  his  elevation  to  the  priesthood,  numerous  acts  of  fraud  and  rapine  (Ep.  49),  —  accusations 
which  may  have  been  false,  but  which  show  that  the  Church  of  Carthage  was  as  much  disturbed 
as  that  of  Rome.  Cf.  Tertullian,  Ad  Nat.  i.  5.  In  the  De  Jejun.  17,  he  also  admits  that  there 
were  many  sources  of  danger  in  the  agapae,  the  abuses  of  which  Saint  Paul  had  already  noticed 
(1  Cor.  xi.  21-22),  and  to  which  Saint  John  Chrysostom  (Horn.  27  in  1  Cor.  xi.)  and  Saint 
Augustine  (Ep.  64)  refer.  See  in  the  35tli  canon  of  the  Council  of  Elvira  (about  A.  d.  300) 
the  measures  taken  against  the  disorders  of  the  Christian  meetings  at  night. 

3  On  the  apostasies,  see  Le  Blant,  Memoire  sur  la  preparation  au  martyre,  in  the  Mem.  de. 
V Acad,  des  inscr.  xxviii.  54,  55,  the  De  Lapsis  of  Saint  Cyprian,  and  his  letter  No.  30. 

4  ...  De  ultima  faece  collectis  imperitioribus.  It  is  the  pagan  of  the  Octavius  who  speaks 
thus  (sec.  8),  and  Celsus  (i.  27  and  iii.  44)  had  already  said  :  “  They  know  how  to  win  only  the 
silly,  vile  souls  without  intelligence,  slaves,  women,  and  children.”  Further  on,  in  sec.  12,  Caeci- 
lius  repeats:  Ecce  pars  vestrum  el  major  et  melior,  utdicitis,  egetis,  algetis,  ope,  re,  fame  laboratis; 
and  in  his  reply  (sec.  31)  Octavius  contents  himself  with  saying:  “We  are  not  the  dregs  of 
the  people  because  we  refuse  your  honors  and  your  purple.”  Then  he  adds  (sec.  36) :  Quod 
plerique  pauperes  decimur,  non  est  infamia  nostra,  sed  gloria.  The  Church  indeed  gloried,  and 
very  justly,  in  seeking  out  the  little  ones ;  among  the  martyrs  whom  it  most  honored  were 
Blandina  and  two  women,  Felicitas  and  Potamienna,  who  suffered  punishment  under  Severus, 
all  three  of  whom  were  slaves.  The  first  martyr  of  Africa,  Namphonius,  or  more  properly 
Namphamo  (see  L.  Renier,  Mel.  d’e'pigr.  pp.  277  etsey.)  and  Evelpistus,  who  suffered  martyrdom 
with  Saint  Justin,  were  of  the  same  condition.  Pope  Calixtus  (218-222)  had  been  the  slave  of 
a  freedman  (Philosoph.  ix.  12);  and  thus  it  must  have  been  for  a  long  period,  for  in  the  higher 
classes  the  entirely  pagan  education  was  hostile  to  Christianity,  and  a  profession  of  the  Christian 
faith  rendered  it  necessary  to  break  with  society  and  its  honors.  Finally,  it  was  not  enough 
to  strip  “the  old  man”  of  his  beliefs,  but  his  pleasures  and  his  wealth  must  also  be  taken 
from  him;  and  many,  like  the  young  ruler  of  the  Gospel,  went  away  sorrowful  when  they 
were  reminded  of  the  precept  of  Jesus  on  giving  up  their  goods  to  the  poor.  But  we  have 
seen  that  from  the  middle  of  the  second  century  the  Church  also  attracted  to  itself  some  o-reat 
minds,  —  Aristeides,  Justin,  Irenaeus,  Clement  of  Alexandria,  Tertullian,  Origen,  etc.;  and  the 
comparative  peace  which  it  enjoyed  during  the  first  half  of  the  third  century  gave  opportunity 
for  several  conversions  in  great  families  (Cyprian,  Epist.  80). 

5  Tertullian,  De  Cor.  i. 

6  See  the  Epistle  of  Saint  Clement  to  the  Corinthians,  on  the  “impious  and  detestable” 


THE  CHURCH  AT  BEGINNING  OF  THIRD  CENTURY.  39 


Faith  and  Heresy  are  two  sisters,  hostile,  and  yet  inseparable  :  the 
one  accompanies  the  other,  and  will  forever  accompany  her. 

There  was  a  third  and  impure  sister,  Theurgy,  who  insinuated 
herself  among  Christians  of  all  sects,  as  among  pagans  of  every 
cult,  and  even  among  the  philosophers.  Miracles  were  every¬ 
where  demanded,  and  there  was  no  lack  of  persons  who  pretended 
to  perform  them.  In  the  condition  of  minds  at  that  time,  nervous 
diseases  must  have  been  frequent,  those  “possessed”  numerous, 
and  healers  easy  to  be  found,  —  self-deceived  charlatans,  or  mere  im¬ 
postors,  whose  incantations  always  made  dupes,  and  who  bandied 
about  from  one  sect  to  another  the  charge  of  working  by  the  aid 
of  devils.  We  have  seen  in  the  preceding  volume  the  miracles 
of  the  pagans ;  the  Philosophumenci  show  that  they  appeared  to 
continue,  but  that  those  of  the  Gnostics  rivalled  them.  In  con¬ 
cluding  his  account  of  the  practices  of  these  thaumaturgists  the 
author  adds:  “That  is  the  way  to  deceive  the  simple-minded.”1 
If  that  were  true,  the  whole  world,  pagans  and  Christians,  merited' 
the  harsh  epithet ;  for  faith  in  the  supernatural  existed  in  all 
places,  and  in  the  Church  more  than  anywhere  else.  So,  without 
seeking  or  wishing  to  do  so,  she  nourished  in  her  bosom  “  doers 
of  marvellous  works;”2  and  of  these  inspired  persons  the  larger 
number  were  women. 

Christianity  has  always  had  a  special  tenderness  for  women ; 
and  this  is  just,  for  they  have  been,  and  still  are,  its  most  potent 
auxiliaries.  Their  lively  imaginations,  their  delicate  natures  — 
still  so  virginal  even  in  the  wife  and  mother  —  were  captivated  by 
that  belief  which  enjoined  charity  and  love ;  which  even,  by  the 

sedition  which  had  broken  out  among  them ;  the  letters  of  Saint  Cyprian  in  respect  to  Novatus 
and  Felicissima;  what  the  angels  in  the  vision  of  Satur  say  to  Bishop  Optatus  {Acts  of  Saint 
Perpetual)  ;  and  the  circumstances  which  brought  about  most  of  the  schisms  and  heresies.  Thus 
Saint  Jerome  ( De  Vir.  Illustr.  53)  affirms  that  it  was  the  jealousy  and  ill-conduct  ( invidia  et 
contumeliae)  of  the  clergy  of  Rome  which  caused  the  fall  of  Tertullian.  He  shows  “  Rome 
convoking  its  Senate  against  Origen  because  the  furious  dogs  who  were  barking  at  him  could 
not  endure  the  brilliancy  of  his  speech  and  his  knowledge  ”  (Rufinus,  Apol.  adv.  Iiieron.  ii.  20 ; 
cf.  Eusebius,  Hist.  eccl.  vi.  8).  By  these  “furious  dogs”  Saint  Jerome  meant  the  bishops  of 
Egypt,  who  had  cut  off  the  great  teacher  from  their  communion.  Origen  himself  applied  to 
them  the  severe  words  of  Jeremiah  (ii.  8)  concerning  the  guides  of  the  people  who  were  so 
apt  in  doing  evil  (Fragment  of  a  letter  quoted  by  Saint  Jerome,  adv.  Ruf  ).  This  evil 
dated  far  back.  Saint  Paul  had  to  reprimand  the  Christians  of  Corinth  and  of  Crete;  Saint 
James,  those  who  exaggerated  the  Pauline  doctrine ;  Saint  John,  the  Nicolaitans. 

1  Pliilos.  iv.  4,  15  :  rrel 6ei  tovs  ci(j)povas. 

2  The  signification  of  the  word  “  thaumaturgist”  ( davpara  and  epSetv,  from  the  root  epy). 


40  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 

legend  of  Mary  Magdalene,  the  repentant  sinner,  granted  favor 
and  pardon  to  those  who  had  loved  much. 

It  was  to  them  that  these  men  appealed  who  gained  admis¬ 
sion  into,  houses,  “  silent  before  the  husband,  inexhaustible  in  talk 
with  the  matron.”  1  Celsus  and  the  pagan  of  the  Octavius  indicate 
what  part  the  women  afterwards  bore  in  the  propagation  of  Chris¬ 
tianity.  The  mother,  having  been  won  over,  brought  with  her  the 
son,  and  then  the  father  and  the  entire  household.  The  story  of 
Saint  Monica  converting  her  husband  and  her  son  is  very  old  and 


ever  new.  Hence  the  Church  assured  them  an  honored  place.  The 
Epistles  speak  of  holy  women  filling  an  office  in  the  religious  com¬ 
munity, —  a  testimony  which  Pliny  confirms;3  and  Lucian  shows 
them  carrying  into  prisons  food  for  Christian  captives.  Though 
teaching  and  performing  the  rites  of  public  worship  were  forbidden 
them,  Jesus  had  given  to  them  the  good  part.  When  Martha  is 
indignant  at  being  excluded  from  the  priesthood,  Mary  replies  to 
her  with  a  smile :  “  Did  he  not  tell  us  that  our  weakness  would 
be  saved  by  his  might  ?  ” 4  This  divine  power  which  raises  them 
so  high  is  love. 

1  Origen,  Contra  Celsnm,  iii.  55. 

‘2  This  sarcophagus  represents  the  following  miracles,  —  Daniel  unharmed  by  the  lions  ; 
Jesus  changing  the  water  into  wine;  and  raising  Lazarus.  In  the  centre,  a  Christian  in  the 
attitude  of  prayer  (Marble  of  the  Catacombs  of  Calixtus.  Roller,  op.  cit.  pi.  xlvii.  fig.  2). 

3  In  the  Pastor  of  Hernias  there  is  also  mention  of  deaconesses  charged  with  the  relations 
of  the  Christian  community  to  the  widows  and  orphans.  In  respect  to  the  testimony  of  Pliny, 
see  Yol.  V.  p.  288. 

4  on  to  aadeves  Si  a  rov  laxvpov  acud^a-erai  (Const,  i.  21,  ap.  Bunsen,  op.  cit.  vol.  vi.).  Cf. 
De  Pressense,  La  Vie  des  chretiens,  p.  77. 


THE  CHURCH  AT  BEGINNING  OF  THIRD  CENTURY.  41 


But  love  is  a  matter  of  sentiment  much  more  than  of  reason. 
In  a  well-ordered  heart  it  instigates  a  rational  devotion  to  good 
works ;  otherwise,  it  causes  disorder.  By  their  nervous  constitu¬ 
tion,  women  are  predisposed  to  excitement :  some  gave  way  to  it ; 
and  these  had  visions,  or  prophesied. 

In  the  ecstasy  into  which  they  lapsed  after  long  fastings  and 
macerations,  they  saw  heaven  opened,  and  conversed  with  angels. 
Tertullian  has  preserved  to  us  one  of  these  cases  of  psychological 
pathology :  “  One  of  our  sisters,”  says  he,  “  in  the  ecstasy  which 
the  Spirit  bestows  upon  her  in  the  very  midst  of  our  assemblies, 
has  the  grace  of  revelations ;  she  sees  and  hears  holy  things,  reads 
what  is  in  the  heart,  and  points  out  remedies  for  the  sick.  Let 
the  Scriptures,  a  psalm,  a  homily  be  read,  and  immediately  she 
has  a  vision.  One  day  when  I  had  discoursed  upon  the  soul,  she 
said  to  us,  among  other  things:  ‘I  have  seen  a  corporeal  soul, 
having  a  certain  form  and  a  consistency  such  that  it  might  have 
been  grasped ;  it  was  shining,  of  an  aerial  color,  with  a  human 
countenance.’  ” 1  Tertullian  must  have  been  extremely  delighted 
with  a  vision  which  confirmed  his  doctrine  of  the  material  nature  of 
the  soul.  He  had  just  been  stating  it,  and  the  echo  of  the  priest’s 
words,  instead  of  being  another  word,  became  a  visible  object : 
the  visionary  saw  what  she  had  just  heard ;  and  there  is  not  a  day 
in  which  this  miracle  does  not  occur  in  certain  of  our  hospitals.2 

The  more  intense  the  religious  life  became,  the  more  sects 
multiplied.  From  time  to  time  the  confusion  penetrated  into  the 
bosom  even  of  the  greatest  churches,  because  the  effort  to  bring 
everything  under  discipline,  thus  enhancing  the  episcopal  authority, 
clashed  with  souls  at  the  same  time  religious  and  independent. 
We  know  by  the  letters  of  Saint  Cyprian  what  disorders  existed 
among  the  Christians  of  Carthage.  All  those  in  revolt  are  naturally 
represented  as  wretches ;  it  is  the  lot  of  the  vanquished.  But  if 
we  knew  something  more  than  the  accusations  “  against  the  con¬ 
spiring  priests;”  if  those  to  whom  the  bishop  imputes  so  many 
shameful  deeds  had  told  us  the  motives  of  their  conduct,  —  perhaps 

1  De  A  nima,  9. 

2  Not  only  philosophers  at  the  present  day  should  study  the  sciences  concerned  with  life; 
historians  really  have  more  need  to  understand  them,  for  physiology  played  an  important  part 
in  the  world  before  there  were  physiologists,  and  it  explains  many  facts  inexplicable  without 
it.  It  is  sad  to  say  this ;  but  a  hospital  for  the  insane  is  also  itself  a  book  of  history. 


42  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


we  should  see  in  the  excommunicated,  instead  of  erring  and  guilty 
persons,  men  defending  the  liberty  of  their  church. 

This  struggle  between  two  principles,  one  of  which  was  soon 
to  stifle  the  other,  existed  at  Rome,  unknown  even  to  those  who 
maintained  it.  A  book  recently  discovered,  the  Pliilosoiiluimena,1 
written  by  a  bishop,  shows  irritating  discussions  in  this  church. 

The  slave  Calixtus  had  been  ordered  by  his  master  to  found  a 
bank.  He  was  unfortunate,  —  the  author  says,  dishonest,  —  and  was 
sent  to  the  mill ;  that  is,  to  the  hardest  labor.  The  brethren 
interfered ;  he  recovered  his  liberty  and,  one  day,  outraged  the 
Jews  in  open  synagogue,  which  caused  him  to  be  condemned  by 
the  prefect  of  Rome  to  be  beaten  with  rods  and  sent  to  the  mines 
of  Sardinia  as  a  disturber  of  public  order.  When  Marcia,  the 
concubine  of  Commodus,  obtained  from  the  Bishop  of  Rome  the 
names  of  the  Christians  banished  to  the  island,  in  order  to  release 
them,  Bishop  Victor  did  not  place  Calixtus  on  the  list ;  but  the 
latter  won  over  the  messenger  of  the  Empress,  who  took  it  upon 
himself  to  bring  Calixtus  away  with  the  others.  On  his  return 
to  Rome  he  succeeded  in  getting  into  the  good  graces  of  Pope 
Zephyrinus,  —  “  a  simple-minded  man,”  says  the  author,  “  very  avari¬ 
cious,  and  somewhat  venal,”  who  placed  him  in  charge  of  the 
common  cemetery  of  the  Christians,2  and  later  of  the  distribution 
of  alms  and  of  the  administration  of  the  church.  In  these  duties, 
which  brought  him  into  daily  contact  with  all  the  faithful,  he  won 
their  confidence.  The  Christian  community  was  at  this  time  very 
much  divided ;  he  persuaded  each  faction  that  he  was  at  heart 
with  them,  and  on  the  death  of  Zephyrinus  he  was  elected  pope, 
notwithstanding  his  unfavorable  antecedents  (a.  d.  218  or  219). 
Immediately  disorder  and  the  confusion  in  belief  increased.  Calixtus 
accused  several  orthodox  bishops  of  heresy,  while  he  himself  taught 
that  the  Father  and  the  Son  were  one  and  the  same  person.  To 
multiply  the  number  of  his  adherents,  he  admitted  married  men 
to  the  priesthood  »$  to  the  church,  sinners  unreconciled ;  to  the 

1  This  manuscript,  discovered  in  1840  and  published  for  the  first  time  in  1851  by  M. 
Miller,  has  been  attributed  to  Origen,  to  Caius,  a  Roman  priest,  to  Tertullian,  and  to  Ilip- 
polytus,  bishop  of  Portus  Romanus,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber.  Whoever  he  is,  the  author 
was  an  adversary  of  Pope  Calixtus,  —  a  fact  which  renders  it  necessary,  without  rejecting 
his  narrative,  to  make  allowance  for  the  passion  which  he  displays  in  it. 

2  Coemeterium  Cnllhti ,  discovered  by  the  Chevalier  de  Rossi,  and  so  well  studied  by  him. 


THE  CHURCH  AT  BEGINNING  OF  THIRD  CENTURY.  43 


communion,  men  of  easy  morals,  women  living  in  concubinage, 
mothers  who  had  exposed  their  infants.  “  Let  the  tares  grow  with 
the  wheat,”  said  he ;  “  the  Church  has  for  its  symbol  the  ark  of 
Noah,  which  contained  clean  and  unclean  animals.”  1  What  truth 
is  there  in  these  accusations  ?  We  do  not  know.  The  author  of 
the  Philosophumena  evidently  leans  towards  the  Montanists,  and 
an  indulgent  bishop  is  displeasing  to  his  austere  mind.  But  if 
the  picture  be  overdrawn,  —  even  if,  as  has  been  maintained,  in 


POPE  CALIXTUS  (FROM  A  GILT  GLASS).2 

order  to  get  rid  of  a  humiliating  revelation,  the  Calixtus  of  the 
Philosophumena  is  not  he  of  the  Church,  —  it  no  less  remains  true 
that  Rome  had  at  this  epoch  its  revolts  against  the  ecclesiastical 
chief ;  soon  there  was  made  an  anti-pope,  Novatian.  Pope  Stephen 
and  the  great  Bishop  of  Carthage  exchanged  angry  letters,3  and 
the  Bishop  of  Caesarea  says  of  his  Roman  brother :  “  His  soul  is 
deceitful,  fickle,  and  not  to  be  depended  on.”4  At  Alexandria, 
Demetrius,  jealous  of  Origen,  will  force  him  to  leave  that  city, 
and  later,  excommunicate  him  from  the  Church.  Later  still,  Paul 

1  Philosoph.  ix.  12.  The  reproaches  of  the  author  are  evidently  exaggerated;  but  on  tlie 
question  of  the  troubles  at  Rome  his  testimony  is  confirmed  by  the  Pastor  of  Hennas  —  Vos 
infirmati  a  secularibus  negotiis  tradidistis  vos  in  socordiam  ( Visio ,  iii.  2)  — and  by  what  Saint 
Jerome  says  of  the  conduct  of  the  Roman  clergy  with  regard  to  Tertullian.  Amm.  Mareellinus 
relates  (xxvii.  3),  at  an  epoch  when  discipline  was  far  better  established,  that  when  two  bishops 
were  disputing  for  the  see  of  Rome,  a  terrible  riot  broke  out,  after  which  a  hundred  and 
thirty-seven  dead  bodies  were  found  in  the  Sicinian  basilica. 

2  Roller,  op.  cit.  pi.  lxxviii.  No.  2. 

3  Cyprian,  Epist.  75,  25,  and  26 :  .  .  .  Non  pudet  Stephanum,  Cyprianum  pseudochristum 
et  pseudoapostolum  dicere.  The  Novatians,  a  rigid  sect  which  did  not  admit  of  reconciliation 
with  the  lapsi,  were  still  numerous  in  the  fifth  century  (Socrates,  Hist.  eccl.  iv.  28). 

4  Id.,  ibid.  78,  25  :  .  .  .  Anima  lubrica,  mobilis  et  incerta.  The  bishops  of  Tarsus  and  of 
Alexandria  also  sided  with  Cyprian  against  Stephen  in  this  controversy. 


44  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


of  Samosata  will  be  forced  to  leave  the  episcopal  throne  at  Antioch, 
under  accusation  of  avarice,  bad  morals,  and  heresy.  The  Christian 
communities,  then,  were  not  always  the  seraphic  Church  of  tradi¬ 
tion  ;  they  were  composed  of  men,  some  of  whom  had  great  vir¬ 
tues,  while  others  were  subject  to  the  same  passions  and  vices 
with  ourselves,  and  to  all  those  transports  of  feeling  which  in 
certain  natures  often  accompany  the  religious  spirit. 

As  early  as  the  time  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  Celsus  had  been  able 

to  assert  that  the  divisions  were 
already  such  among  Christians 
that  they  no  longer  had  any¬ 
thing  in  common  except  the 
name ;  and  Ammianus  Marcelli- 
nus,  a  pagan  void  of  religious 
passion,  who  renders  homage  to 
the  purity  of  the  Christian  faith, 
says  in  the  following  century : 
“Wild  beasts  are  not  more  fu¬ 
riously  enraged  against  man  than 
are  most  Christians  against  one 
another.”1  Pious  souls,  on  the 
contrary,  have  drawn  from  these 
persistent  disorders  proof  that 
the  new  religion  was  of  divine 
institution,  since  a  human  work 
could  not  have  survived  such 
lacerations.  We  can  only  say  that  they  were  inevitable.  Man, 
with  all  his  passions,  exists  in  the  theologian  as  well  as  in  the 
philosopher ; 3  for  the  violent  or  the  peaceful  are  not  made  so  by 
their  beliefs  or  their  ideas,  but  by  the  character  and  the  habits 
which  education  has  moulded,  and  the  institutions  to  which  the 
life  has  been  conformed. 

1  Origen,  Contra  Celsum ,  iii.  10  and  12,  and  Amm.  Marcellinus,  xxii.  5. 

2  Roller,  pi.  xc.  fig.  12.  This  lamp  (of  about  the  end  of  the  fourth  century)  bears  the 
cruciform  monogram. 

3  This  is  akin  to  what  Saint  Paul  says  to  the  Corinthians  (2  Cor.  iii.  1-3),  when  he  places 
in  opposition  in  the  Christian  the  spiritual  man  and  the  carnal  man. 


L 


NOAH’S  ARK.  CENTRE  OF  A  FRESCO  ;  THE  CEILING  OF  A  CUBICULUM  OF  THE  CATACOMBS  OF  DOMITILLA  :  MIDDLE  OF  THE  THIRD 

CENTURY  (ROLLER,  PLATE  XXXV.  AND  BOSIO,  PAGE  243). 


1  M  Lioiary 

«<  the 


CHAPTER  XCI. 


THE  PERSECUTION  UNDER  SEVERUS. 

I.  —  Idea  of  the  State  among  the  Ancients  ;  Opposition  of 

the  Christians. 

rpHE  imperial  government  was  well  aware  of  the  powerful 
organization  of  the  Church,1 — these  communities  correspond¬ 
ing  with  one  another  from  one  end  of  the  Empire  to  the  other ; 
these  men  who  without  money  traversed  land  and  sea,  who  every¬ 
where  saw,  at  their  approach,  doors  and  hearts  thrown  open ; 
who,  even  with  persons  of  another  language,  were  able  to  make  • 
themselves  understood  by  a  sign,  without  need  of  words.2  The 
imperial  government,  so  afraid  of  secret  societies,  found  an  im¬ 
mense  one  extended  everywhere,  —  an  evident  peril  to  itself,  for  it 
was  within  the  state  another  state,  possessed  of  all  the  means  of 
action ;  but  tolerance  was  a  necessary  consequence  of  the  religious 
organization  of  the  Romans,  who  never  had  a  theocracy,  because  in 
their  pontiffs  the  civil  character  took  the  precedence  of  the  sacer¬ 
dotal.  The  priests  of  Jupiter  and  of  Mars  were  judges,  soldiers, 
administrators ;  and  they  had  learned,  in  the  government  of  men, 
that  the  law  touches  only  acts,  and  has  no  hold  on  the  thoughts. 
Accordingly,  they  never  attempted  to  impose  their  beliefs  upon 
others,  and  tolerated  every  religion  so  long  as  it  did  not  find  ex¬ 
pression  in  acts  considered  offensive  to  the  Emperor  or  dangerous 
to  the  Empire.  In  the  midst  of  the  profound  peace  which  Severus 

1  Ulpian,  one  of  the  councillors  of  Severus,  has  collected  in  the  seventh  chapter  of  his 
treatise  De  Off.  proc.  all  the  edicts  relating  to  the  Christians  (Lactantius,  Inst.  div.  V.  ii.  10), 

2  All  ecclesiastical  history  testifies  to  the  constant  communication  among  the  churches. 
They  consult  one  another,  make  known  the  decisions  which  they  have  reached,  their  sufferings, 
and  their  triumphs.  Even  written  documents  circidated  rapidly.  Saint  Irenaeus,  at  Lyons, 
borrows  several  passages  from  Tlieophilus  of  Antioch  ;  the  author  of  the  Philosophumena  at 
Rome,  and  Tertullian  at  Carthage,  copy  the  Lyonnese  bishop. 


46  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


secured  to  the  Roman  world,  when  no  apprehension  of  public 
danger  excited  men’s  minds,  the  wise  statesmen  who  ruled  public 
affairs  made  no  effort  to  proscribe  the  new  religion,  while  yet 
leaving  it  under  the  menace  of  Trajan’s  rescript.  This  rescript  it 
was  impossible  to  repeal  so  long  as  the  Caesars  retained  the  re¬ 
ligion  of  their  fathers ;  for  the  title  of  Pontifex  Maximus  was 
equivalent  at  Rome  to  the  oath  taken  by  the  kings  of  France  on 
their  coronation  day,  to  preserve  the  orthodox  religion  and  to 
tolerate  no  heretics  within  their  domains.1 

This  partial  toleration  assured  to  the  Church  only  an  uncertain 
peace,  for  the  best  of  the  pagans  resembled  the  historian  Dion 
Cassius,  a  timorous  spirit,  the  foe  of  all  violence,  who  at  the  same 
time  wished  to  have  the  Christians  punished,  because  in  his  judg¬ 
ment  innovators  in  religion  were  of  necessity  innovators  in  politics 
and  instigators  of  disorder.2  From  time  to  time  a  popular  outbreak 
made  a  few  victims,  or  an  over-zealous  governor  applied  the  old  laws 
of  the  Empire.  Severus  at  first  manifested  toward  the  Christians 
only  great  indifference ;  for  he  saw  among  them  merely  “  carders, 
fullers,  and  shoemakers,” 3  and  it  did  not  seem  to  him  that  an 
Emperor  had  anything  to  fear  from  this  God  of  the  lower  classes. 
It  is  not  certain  that  he  sent  any  one,  before  the  j^ear  202,  into 
exile,  or  to  the  quarries  whence  Marcia,  under  Commodus,  had 
released  them ; 4  and  the  Christians  were  without  doubt  included 
in  the  favor  which  he  accorded  “  to  the  sectaries  of  the  Jewish 
superstition,”  —  that  of  being  eligible  to  municipal  honors,  with 
release  from  obligations  contrary  to  their  beliefs.5  There  were 


1  Oath  of  Louis  XIII.  at  his  coronation :  .  .  .  Outre  je  tascheroy  a  mon  pouvoir,  en  bonne 
foy,  de  chasser  de  met  juridiction  et  terres  de  ma  sujetion  tons  lieretiques  denonces  par  VEglise 
(Le  Ceremonial  frctnqois,  by  Theod.  Godefroy,  1649). 

2  Dion,  lii.  36. 

3  Origen,  Contra  Celsum ,  iii.  55. 

4  After  having  enumerated  those  whom  the  Christian  communities  assisted,  —  the  poor, 
orphans,  old  servants,  and  the  shipwrecked,  —  Tertullian  (who,  however,  has  a  habit  of  extreme 
exaggeration)  adds :  Et  si  qui  in  metcdlis,  et  si  qui  in  insulis  vel  in  custodiis,  ex  causa  Dei  sectae 
(Ap.  39).  We  have  seen  above  (Vol.  VI.  p.  460,  note  4)  that  Marcia  had  obtained  the  release 
of  those  who  were  in  the  mines  of  Sardinia  ;  and  there  is  no  reason  to  think  that  the  measure 
may  not  have  been  general. 

5  Digest ,  1.  2,  3,  sec.  3.  This  interpretation  is  supported  by  the  treatise  De  Idololatria, 
in  which  Tertullian  recites  what  “the  Christian  magistrate”  must  refuse  to  do.  We  see  also 
by  the  Acta  martyrum  that  judges  sought  to  substitute  a  political  accusation  for  a  religious 
one,  demanding  of  the  Christians  brought  before  them  not,  “Are  you  Christians?”  but 
“Have  you  attended  unlawful  assemblies?”  The  teaching  of  the  Jews  was  public.  .  .  . 


47 


THE  PERSECUTION  UNDEE  SEVEliUS. 


even  some  of  them  among  his  attendants.  Before  he  became 
emperor  a  Christian  had  healed  him  of  some  disease ;  and  after 
his  accession  to  the  throne  he  caused  search  to  be  everywhere 
made  for  this  individual,  and  gave  him  a  position  in  the  imperial 
household.1  There  were  other  Christians  in  the  palace,  if  the  cele- 


GKAFFITO  OF  A  CRUCIFIED  FIGURE  WITH  AN  ASS’S  HEAD.2 


brated  graffito  of  a  crucified  man  with  the  head  of  an  ass,  found 
lately  on  the  Palatine,  is,  as  seems  probable,  of  this  time.  We 
know,  moreover,  that  Caracalla  had  a  Christian  nurse,3  and  that 

Judaei  palam  lectitant.  recti  galls  libertas  rul go  aditur  sabbatis  omnibus  (Tertullian,  ApoJ.  IS), 
and  the  government  saw  ic-  it  that  no  one  should  disturb  their  religious  service  ( Pliilosopli . 
ix.  12).  They  received  this  right  from  Augustus  (Josephus,  Ant.  Jwl.  xvi.  (.!,  2). 

1  Tertullian,  Ad  Heap.  4. 

2  The  figure  on  the  cross  is  looking  at  a  person  below  him  whose  arm  is  raised  in  the  atti¬ 
tude  of  adoration.  The  Greek  legend  below,  badly  engraved,  signifies :  ,l  Alexamenos  adores 
(his)  God,”  —  evidently  a  sarcasm  against  some  comrade  in  service  in  the  palace  of  the 
Caesars.  Xear  this  graffito  —  which  is  now  in  the  Kircher  Museum —  these  words  have 
been  found  engraved:  Alexamenos  fidclis.  Father  Garucci,  who  published  this  caricature 
in  18o7,  believes  its  date  to  be  early  in  the  third  century,  because  at  this  epoch  the  pagans 
accused  their  opponents  of  adoring  an  ass’s  head.  Tn  1>82  a  fresco  was  discovered  at  Pompeii, 
representing  a  parodv  of  the  Judgment  of  Solomon,  —  doubtless  executed  for  the  house  of 
some  inhabitant  of  that  pleasure-loving  city  who  wished  to  make  sport  of  the  Jews,  his 
neighbors. 

3  Lacte  Christiano  educatus  (Tertullian,  ibid .). 


48 


THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  ISO  TO  235  a.  d. 


when  a  boy  he  was  so  enraged  because  one  of  his  playmates  was 
scourged  for  being  of  the  Jewish  or  Christian  religion,  that  he  for 
a  lono;  time  refused  to  see  those  who  had  beaten  the  child.1  When 
we  read  in  the  Digest  that  Severus  ordered  persons  accused  of 
holding  unlawful  assemblies  to  be  brought  before  the  city  prefect, 
we  may  conclude  from  this,  since  the  guarantees  of  justice  are 
increased  in  proportion  to  the  higher  rank  of  the  judge,  that  the 
rescript  must  have  been  favorable  to  the  Christians :  the  old, 
harsh  law  against  associations  was  about  to  be  tempered  by 
political  prudence.  The  same  Emperor  authorized  poor  people 
throughout  the  Empire  to  form  colleges  with  monthly  assessments.2 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  this  rescript  was  favorable  to  the  Christians, 
and  we  have  no  right  to  say  that  Severus  did  not  think  of  them 
in  writing  it.3 

But  the  Emperor  disliked  tumult  of  any  sort,  and  the  religious 
disputes  occasioned  a  great  deal,  especially  when  Tertullian  joined 
in  them,  as  he  constantly  did.  This  son  of  a  centurion  was  a 
man  of  strife.  He  made  attacks  in  his  own  defence,  and  struck  at 
all  about  him,  hurling  invectives  equally  at  the  pagans,  their 
magistrates,  their  gods,  “  admitted  to  heaven  b\r  a  decree  of  the 
Senate,”  and  at  those  of  his  brethren  whom  he  treated  as  heretics,4  — 
never  dreaming  that  the  orthodox  were  reserving  the  same  lot  for 
himself.  In  a  recently  discovered  fragment  of  Clement  of  Rome 
is  found  this  prayer  to  God :  “  It  is  thou,  Almighty  King,  who 
hast  given  the  kingdom  to  our  sovereigns  that  we  might  be  in 
subjection  to  them.  Grant  them,  0  Lord,  health  and  peace,  that 
they  may  without  hindrance  exercise  the  power  which  thou  hast 
confided  unto  them  over  all  existence.  Direct,  0  Lord,  their  will 


1  Spart.,  Caracalla,  1. 

2  .  .  .  Permittitur  tenuioribus  stipem  menstruam  .  .  .  non  tantum  in  Urbe ,  scd  et  in  Italia 
et  in  provinciis  .  .  .  dirus  Severus  rescripsit  I Digest ,  xlvii.  22,  1).  lie  prohibited  them  in  the 
armies  (ibid.),  where  they  were  nevertheless  formed.  Cf.  L.  llenier,  Inscr.  d'Ahj.  70. 

3  Tertullian  attests  (Apol.  30)  that  this  custom  of  furnishing  the  menstruam  stipem  existed 
among  the  Christians ;  they  had,  then,  taken  advantage  of  the  law  of  Severus.  Yet  he  savs 
that  the  pretext  for  the  persecution  was  the  unlawful  assembling  (De  Jejun.  1 3).  Severus,  who 
merely  proposed  to  check  the  propagation  of  the  new  religion,  may  only  have  struck  a  blow  at 
the  meetings  which  had  not  assumed  the  legal  character  of  the  burial  societies. 

4  He  refuses  to  them  the  right  of  discussion,  and  treats  them  as  condemned  without  appeal. 
In  the  De  Praescr.  adv.  baeret.  he  opposes  to  them  only  the  judicial  form  of  the  ordinance. 
“  You  have  on  your  side,”  he  says  to  them,  “  neither  time  nor  prescriptive  right and  this 
argument  suffices  for  him. 


THE  PERSECUTION  UNDER  SEYERUS. 


49 


according  to  right  and  in  conformity  with  what  is  agreeable  unto 
thee,  so  that,  using  authority  with  mildness,  they  may  find  thee 
favorable  .  .  . 5,1  This  is  the  attitude  of  the  primitive  Christians, 
of  the  Apostles  Paul  and  Peter,  after  them  of  a  Bishop  of  Rome 
at  the  end  of  the  first  century,  and  of  Theophilus  of  Antioch  in 
the  middle  of  the  Second.  How  different  these  holy  men  are  from 
the  fiery  Carthaginian  writing,  in  his  treatise  De  Idololatria ,  a 
veritable  declaration  of  war  against  pagan  society!  In  another2  we 
hear  this  repeated  cry  of  revolt :  “  It  is  our  business  to  contend 
against  the  institutions  of  the  ancients,  the  laws  of  our  masters ;  ”  3 
and  this  moral  revolt  was  legitimate,  since  the  imperial  government, 
not  comprehending  the  sacred  rights  of  conscience,  had  treated  the 
Christian  belief  as  a  crime.  The  life  of  Christians  Tertullian 
would  have  sad  and  sombre,  ever  in  sackcloth  and  ashes,  in  prayers 
and  tears.  “  The  woman  who  does  not  live  like  a  repentant  and 
mourning  Eve,  is  condemned  and  already  dead.  Her  ornaments 
are  the  trappings  of  her  burial.”  4  And  this  severity  accorded  so 
well  with  the  spirit  of  the  Church  that  the  authority  of  the 
priest  of  Carthage,  notwithstanding  his  fall,  was  very  great,  and  has 
remained  so  to  this  day.  “Give  me  the  master”  {Da  magistrum ),6 
Saint  Cyprian  was  accustomed  to  say,  when  he  asked  for  a  book  of 
the  celebrated  doctor ;  and  Bossuet,  who  often  copied  Tertullian, 
speaks  in  very  nearly  the  same  words. 

Minucius  Felix  has  not  the  genius,  nor  has  he  the  harsh  manner 
of  the  Carthaginian ;  but  he  is  even  more  bitter.  It  is  not  enough 
for  him  to  make  a  laughing-stock  of  the  gods  of  Rome ;  he  tramples 
under  foot  the  last  homage  that  remains  to  her,  —  the  pride  in  her 
memories.  Saint  Clement  recognized  Rome  as  his  country ;  speak¬ 
ing  of  her,  he  says:  “Our  legions,  our  generals.”  6  Minucius  is  no 
longer  a  Roman  ;  for  him,  the  fortune  of  this  people  arose  out  of 
wickedness,  its  history  is  filled  with  crimes,  and  Rome  has  never 
been  other  than  a  den  of  bandits.7  With  less  wrath,  though  as  much 

1  I.  Clem,  ad  Cor.  chap,  xxxvii. 

2  A  dversus  haec  nobis  negotium  est,  adversus  institutiones  majorum,  auctoritates  receptorum, 
leges  dominantium ,  argumentationes  prudentium  (Ad  Nation.  20). 

3  See  also  the  violent  outbursts  of  the  De  Corona ,  11.  This  old  spirit  of  the  Church  should 
be  noted,  for  it  reappeared  as  soon  as  the  laity  began  to  withdraw  from  her  administration. 

4  De  Cultu  fern.  i.  1.  5  Saint  Jerome,  De  Vir.  illustr. 

6  This  is  the  famous  fjuw",  which  was  for  so  many  years  a  subject  of  dispute,  but  can  be  so 
no  longer.  7  Octavius,  25. 


VOL.  VII. 


4 


50  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


disdain,  Saint  Augustine  says  of  the  glory  of  the  Romans :  Accepe- 
runt  mercedem  suam,  vani  vanam. 

The  sentiments  of  Minucius  are  those  of  the  greater  number  of 
Christians.  Sanctus,  one  of  the  martyrs  of  Lyons,  while  under¬ 
going  the  torture,  is  asked  his  name,  his  city  and  country,  and 
whether  he  is  free  or  a  slave.  But  he  has  no  name,  he  has  no 
country.  To  every  question  he  gives  but  one  answer :  “  I  am  a 


SCENE  OE  PERSECUTION:  THE  ACCUSATION.1 

Christian !  ”  It  is  a  noble  reply ;  but  it  is  also  very  menacing. 
Civis  Romanus  sum !  cried  the  Roman  of  the  old  davs,  attest- 
ing  his  nobility  and  his  right ;  even  the  Stoic  was  still  a  citizen  of 
the  world  :  but  the  Christians,  disowning  their  earthly  fatherland, 
ackno wedge  no  city  but  heaven. 

Greece  and  her  glories,  which  are  those  of  the  human  mind, 
find  no  iAvor  with  them.  To  them,  Socrates  is  a  buffoon,2  Aristotle3 

1  Fresco  of  the  catacombs  of  Calixtus,  over  the  crypt  of  Pope  Eusebius.  Unique  example 
of  a  judgment-scene  in  primitive  Christian  iconography  (Roller,  vol.  i.  pi.  xxvii.  No.  1,  and 

pp.  161,  162). 

2  Octavius,  38:  Scurra  Atticus. 

3  Miserum  Aristotelem  (Tertullian,  De  Praescr.  7).  Clement  of  Alexandria,  on  the  con¬ 
trary,  rendered  at  the  same  period  a  solemn  act  of  homage  to  Aristotle,  copying  him  in  his 

Hypotyposes. 


THE  PERSECUTION  UNDER  SEVERUS. 


51 


a  wretch,  and  they  pronounce  anathema  against  all  the  great 
philosophers.  What  a  difference  between  the  apologists  of  the  first 
age  and  those  of  the  second !  And  in  the  space  of  half  a  century, 
from  Justin  to  Minucius  Felix,  from  Athenagoras  to  Tertullian, 
how  hatred  has  become  envenomed !  The  Church,  when  she  was 
mistress  of  the  world,  became  a  great  school  of  respect  and  sub¬ 
mission  to  law ;  but  she  was  not  so  in  the  early  centuries. 

To  these  maledictions  against  history  and  philosophy,  —  that  is  to 
say,  against  civilization,  —  were  added  menaces  against  the  Empire 
and  its  sacrilegious  Babylon.  The  sect  of  Montanists,  which  in¬ 
creased  in  numbers  daily,  and  even,  if  we  may  believe  the  pagan 
orator  of  the  Octavius,  all  Christians,1  announced  at  Rome  its 
impending  destruction,  and  their  gloomy  prophecies  gave  rise 
to  the  belief  that  they  would  willingly  hasten  that  ill-fated  hour. 
“  If  all  others  thought  as  you  do,”  said  Celsus  to  them,  “  the 
world  would  become  a  prey  to  the  Barbarians.”  2  And,  in  truth,  it 
did  become  so  when  all  the  world  believed  as  they  did.  There 
were  at  this  time,  indeed,  in  Alexandria,  men  such  as  Pantaenus, 
Clement,  and  Origen,  who,  sincere  admirers  of  the  ancient  philos¬ 
ophy,  would  gladly  have  “  disengaged  the  pearls  hidden  in  a 
pernicious  alloy,”3  or,  as  Origen  said,  “  carried  off  the  gold  of  the 
Egyptians  to  make  it  into  sacred  vessels  for  the  altar.”4  But 
when  they  spoke  of  their  contemporaries,  it  was  with  the  bitterness 
of  Tertullian.  Cyprian,  one  of  the  most  moderate  of  them,  wrote 
in  the  midst  of  a  pestilence  and  famine  to  the  proconsul 
Demetrianus :  “If  I  have  not  replied  to  your  barking  against  God, 
it  is  that  I  may  not  expose  our  sacred  truth  to  the  outrages  of 
dogs  and  swine.  .  .  .  These  scourges  are  the  divine  vengeance 
which  strikes  the  hardened  sinner.  What !  you  blaspheme  against 
the  true  God,  you  persecute  his  servants ;  and  you  wonder  that  the 
rain  does  not  descend  upon  your  arid  plains,  that  the  springs  are 
dried  up,  that  the  hail  destroys  your  crops,  and  the  poisoned  air 

1  Oct.  10.  The  Octavius  must  have  been  written  about  the  year  180,  and  the  treatise  of 
Celsus  is  probably  of  the  same  time. 

2  Contra  Celsum,  viii.  68.  In  speaking  thus  I  merely  state  a  fact;  namely,  that  the 
Christians,  after  having  been  an  element  of  dissolution  to  the  pagan  empire,  were  not  able  to 
save  the  Christian  empire  when  they  had  become  masters  of  it.  As  to  the  causes  of  the 
Empire’s  downfall,  they  were  many,  as  will  later  be  shown ;  and  all  that  is  said  in  the  present 
chapter  proves  that  Christianity  was  one  of  these  causes. 

3  Strom.  I.  i.  sect.  17.  4  Epist.  ad  Gregor.  1,  30. 


52  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


your  population  ?  These  visitations  are  the  consequence  of  your 
iniquities !  ” 1  The  pagans  retorted  in  the  same  language,  and 
moreover  cried  out:  “The  Christians  to  the  lions!  ”  On  both  sides 
passion  conceived  gods  in  its  own  image,  angry  and  violent,  while 
impassive  Nature,  pursuing  the  course  of  her  immutable  laws,  bore 
fruitful  clouds  to  one  locality,  and  deadly  miasmata  to  another. 

The  Romans,  who  had  so  keen  a  relish  for  tragic  declamations, 
and  the  Emperor,  who  had  himself  composed  them,  would  not 
perhaps  have  paid  much  attention  to  the  sombre  pictures  which  so 
many  Christians  unrolled  before  their  gaze,  if  the  new  doctrine 
had  not  in  other  ways  appeared  dangerous  to  them. 

Saint  Paul  had  said :  “  Let  every  soul  be  in  subjection  to  the 
higher  powers  :  for  there  is  no  power  but  of  God.”  2  And  some 
years  later  Clement  of  Rome  had  drawn  up  for  the  churches  a 
prayer  in  which  he  besought  God  to  give  to  the  Emperors  health, 
strength,  and  security.3  But  the  spirit  of  submission  was  no  longer 
that  of  even  a  part  of  the  believers.  Severus  was  a  soldier.  What 
was  he  to  think  of  men  who  replied  to  Celsus,  when  the  latter 
reproached  them  for  abandoning  the  Empire,  assailed  by  the  Bar¬ 
barians  :  “  It  is  true  that  we  do  not  bear  arms,  and  that  we  would 
not,  though  the  Emperor  should  try  to  compel  us;  we  have  another 
camp,  where  we  combat  for  him  by  our  prayers.” 4  As  a  jurist, 
how  could  he  regard  a  sect  in  which  it  was  taught  that  when  the 
law  of  the  Church  is  in  opposition  to  the  law  of  the  state,  it  is 
the  former  which  must  be  obeyed,5  “because  faith  does  not  admit 
the  allegation  of  necessity.”  6  Lastly,  as  a  ruler  and  the  necessary 
conservator  of  an  order  of  things  which  had  always  exacted  devo¬ 
tion  to  social  obligations,  it  was  inevitable  that  he  should  seek  to 
stay  the  progress  of  a  religion  whose  sectaries  lost  their  interest 
in  public  duties. 

According  to  the  ideas  of  the  ancients,  whether  the  state  were 

1  Ad  Demetrianum,  8.  In  this  very  spirited  letter  against  pagan  society,  Cyprian  also 
announced  the  approaching  destruction  of  the  world. 

2  Romans  xiii.  1.  3  II.  Clem,  ad  Cor.  59-72.  Ed.  Hilgenfeld. 

4  Origen,  Contra  Celsum,  viii.  73,  74.  And  conduct  accorded  with  the  language  used. 
The  recruiting  officer  presents  to  the  proconsul  of  Africa  a  young  man  selected  to  be  a  soldier ; 
but  the  young  man  replies  that,  being  a  Christian,  he  is  not  permitted  to  bear  arms.  For  this 
refusal  to  take  the  military  oath  he  was  executed  (Ruinart,  Acta  sincera,  p.  299,  ad  ann.  295 
or  296). 

5  Origen,  Contra  Celsum ,  v.  37. 

6  Non  admittit  status  Jidei  allerjationem  necessitatis  (Tertullian,  Be  Cor.  ii.). 


THE  PERSECUTION  UNDER  SEVERUS. 


53 


represented  by  a  man,  a  senate,  or  a  popular  assembly,  and  whether  / 
it  were  a  famous  city  like  Athens  or  Rome,  or  the  most  obscure 
municipality,  the  citizen  owed  to  it  all  his  faculties,  —  his  valor  in 
battle,  his  fortune  in  public  necessities,  his  life  in  great  perils. 
This  absolute  dependence  upon  the  state,  so  much  opposed  to  our 
ideas  of  individual  liberty,  had  given  to  patriotism  an  energy  which 
ours  has  lost;  and  this  is  why  we  do  not  comprehend,  or  compre¬ 
hend  imperfectly,  so  many  things  in  ancient  society.  Thus  in  the 
case  of  the  persecutions,  to  do  justice  to  both  sides,  we  must  take 
into  account  the  horror  which  men  inspired  who  set  up  in  oppo¬ 
sition  to  the  common  country,  bequeathed  to  them  by  their  ances¬ 
tors,  another  which  they  had  made  for  themselves.  “  Why,”  they 
were  asked,  “why  do  you  shun  municipal  offices  which  maintain 
the  law?”  “Because  in  each  of  your  cities  we  have  another 
country  which  God  has  made  for  us,  —  the  Church ;  and  it  is  to  the 
government  of  this  that  those  of  us  who  have  authority  by  eloquence 
or  moral  character  should  be  devoted.” 1  Many  systems  of  phi¬ 
losophy,  even  the  one  at  that  time  in  vogue,  also  recommended 
separation  from  the  world ;  but  in  the  schools,  this  spirit  was 
inoffensive,  because  it  remained  simply  a  psychological  curiosity. 

In  the  Church,  it  must  have  appeared  to  the  authorities  as  a  social 
peril :  first,  because  it  was  the  vital  principle  of  a  society  hostile 
to  the  established  order ;  and  next,  because  the  refusal  to  occupy 
municipal  offices  disorganized  the  city,  making  public  duties  weigh 
heavier  on  those  who  accepted  them. 

Many  other  things  still  further  scandalized  the  pagans.  Then, 
as  to-day,  large  families  were  honored,  and  the  Roman  law  pun¬ 
ished  celibacy.  Now,  the  Gnostic  Christians  —  almost  as  numerous 
as  the  Orthodox  —  cursed  the  flesh  as  the  principle  of  all  evil,  and 
practised  celibate  asceticism.  Others,  regardless  even  of  the  con¬ 
ditions  of  human  life,  placed  among  their  pious  books  treatises  “  on 
the  disadvantages  of  marriage.” 2  Some  dared  to  think  that  it 

1  Scimus,  in  singulis  civitatibus,  aliam  esse  patriam  a  verbo  Dei  constitutam,  eos  ut 

Ecclesiam  regant  hortamur  qui  potentes  sermone  et  quorum  mores  scini  sunt  (Origen,  Contra 
Celsum,  viii.  75).  “  To-day  even,  in  every  country,  we  should  prosecute  any  association  pro¬ 

pagating  certain  ideas  promulgated  by  Tertullian  in  chapter  lxxxi.  of  the  De  Corona,  22  ” 

(De  la  Berge,  Trajan,  p.  213). 

2  This  was  one  of  the  first  works  of  Tertullian ;  and  Saint  Jerome  recommended  the  read¬ 
ing  of  it  to  Eustochia  (A  d  Jovinian.  i.  and  Epist.  18,  ad  Eustoch.).  Tertullian,  however,  did 
not  himself  profit  by  it,  for  he  married,  and  in  the  second  of  his  letters  to  his  wife  (Ad  Uxorem, 


54  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 

would  have  been  far  better  if  Adam  had  remained  in  a  state  of 
virgin  purity,  and  God  had  found  other  means  of  placing  upon  the 
earth  human  beings  to  worship  him.1  One  of  them  went  so  far  as 
to  write:  “If  we  have  children,  we  desire  that  they  may  go  before 
us  into  the  presence  of  the  Lord.”  Tertullian,  it  is  true,  who 
spoke  thus,  says  of  himself :  “  I  do  not  dispute,  I  do  not  go  to  war, 


A  WOMAN  AT  PRAYER,  AND  THE  GOOD  SHEPHERD.2 


and  my  sole  care  is  to  exempt  myself  from  all  care ;  I  have  with¬ 
drawn  from  the  people  ( secessi  de  jpo])ulo)”  3  Or  this:  “We  have 
no  other  interest  in  this  world  than  to  escape  from  it  at  the  earliest 
moment.”  We  might,  on  the  other  hand,  accept  this  thought  of 
Montanus,  “Man  is  a  lyre  which  the  Spirit  of  God  strikes,”4  if  it 
did  not  bv  the  annihilation  of  our  will  and  absolute  abandonment 
to  Providence  expose  us  to  another  peril ;  that  is  to  say,  to  the 


ii.  9)  he  draws  a  very  beautiful  picture  of  Christian  marriage.  But  in  the  first  he  represents 
marriage  to  be  unsuitable  for  believers,  and  makes  a  vow  of  continence.  The  Marcionites 
forbade  conjugal  union;  Tatian  condemned  it;  the  Valentinians,  Basilians,  Encratites,  or 
Continents,  did  the  same;  Origen  rendered  himself  incapable  of  it,  and  his  imitators  continued 
to  be  numerous  enough  as  late  as  the  fourth  century  to  require  that  the  first  canon  of  the 
Council  of  Nicaea  should  prohibit  mutilation.  Other  Gnostic  sects  destroyed  marriage  by 
community  of  wives.  Clement  of  Alexandria,  a  contemporary  of  Tertullian,  but  of  a  milder 
character,  combats,  in  book  iii.  of  the  Stromata ,  all  these  excesses,  and  exalts  anew  the  sanctity 
of  the  married  state.  Ilis  doctrine  has  remained  that  of  the  Church;  but  the  Montanist  spirit, 
which  is  not  dead,  has  covered  the  world  with  convents. 

1  We  find  traces  of  these  singular  opinions  in  Justin,  Gregory  of  Nyssa,  and  Saint  Augus¬ 
tine  ;  Macarius  Magnes  maintained  that  Adam  made  no  use  of  marriage  until  after  his  sin. 

2  Painting  from  the  Catacombs  of  SS.  Nereus  and  Achilleus  (Roller,  pi.  xlix.  fig.  1). 

3  Tertullian,  De  Pallio,  5. 

4  Saint  Epiplianius,  Adv.  liaer.  48. 


THE  rElUsECUTIOX  UXDEll  SEVEKL'S. 


00 


hazard  of  taking  individual  inspirations  for  revelations  from  on 
liitrh. 

The  eloquent  and  eloomv  declamations  of  Tertullian  were  not 
the  rule  of  faith  of  all  believers.  There  were  certainly  Christians 
in  the  army,  in  municipal  offices,  in  civil  functions;  •  and  all  did 
not  renounce  their  property  through  apprehension  of  the  fate  of 
Ananias,  or  give  up  commerce  and  industrial  pursuits  for  fear  of 
infringing  upon  the  prescribed  rules  of  the  Church  with  regard  to 
lending  money  at  interest.2  There  were  those  who,  penetrated 


T1IE  GOOD  SHEriTEr.D  AXD  THE  TWELVE  ATO'TLE-.3 


with  the  sweetness  of  the  Gospels,  forgot  the  God  of  inexorable 
vengeance,  and  saw  only  tlie  Good  Shepherd  bringing  back  upon 
his  shoulders  the  sheep  which  had  gone  astray.  Those  were  the 
neophytes  who  remembered  being  fed  by  the  Church  with  milk 
and  honey  "at  their  entrance  into  the  land  of  promise:-'  they 
took  del hlit  in  life,  in  the  sunliirht  and  the  flowers,  in  friendship 
and  love,  as  in  irifts  of  their  Heavenly  Father :  and  tliev  were 
the  most  numerous,  because  they  obeyed  the  true  laws  of  our 
nature,  against  which  no  general  revolt  is  possible.  But  they  were 
not  the  most  zealous.  Those  upon  whom  had  been  poured  out 

1  They  were  there,  hut  in  wry  'mall  numl>er.  The  famous  word*  f  Tertullian.  "We  fill 

s,  the  cam]  *,  the  Senate'’  (.-I/***/.  o7).  are  contradicted  by  all  the  fa-  ts  an  ll  -  ionic?. 
(See  Yol.  VI.  ji.42S.  Elio  :  -  •  1 1  • 

in  ri-^nl  to  the  nuiuljcr  of  the  faithful.  ••  Wherever  three  (  hristian?  are  t  uitt  I."1  says  Ter- 

in  ..  " .  tst it.  •),  “there  is  a  eh  li ;  and  the  ■  .  -  1  f .1 

drhi,  i.  13  p»yi.  Bunsen.  /•.  ■  ■  .  rojuire  that  when  llic  hers  re  fen 

they  should  seek  the  assistance  of  tlu  tv  judicious  .  -  t  by  the  neighboring  cbnrclie?. 

2  Lending  at  interest  was  considered  usury,  and  condemned  under 

3  Bas-relief  found  near  the  f  b  ren  ?l  .  ISosio.  p.  111.  an-l 

Roller.  ■  1.  xliii.  (i;.  -j).  The  fi-ol  Shepherd  is  represented,  in  the  cel  . 

extremities  of  the  has-n-lief.  _  i  ling  "hi> 


56  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  ISO  TO  235  a.  d. 


the  wine  of  wrath  and  the  intoxication  of  death,  cried  out,  with 
Minucius  Felix :  It  is  no  longer  a  time  to  adore  crosses,  but  to 
bear  them ;  ” 1  and  they  were  the  martyrs  of  the  persecution  which 
we  are  about  to  narrate. 


II.  —  Rescripts  of  Trajan,  Marcus  Aurelius,  and  Severus. 

Sophocles,  in  his  Antir/one,  had  already  shown  in  magnificent 
terms  the  opposition  which  may  be  found  between  civil  law  and  nat¬ 
ural  law,  between  the  decrees  of  men  and  those  ever-living  laws 
which  no  hand  has  written-  but  which  the  nods  have  emrraved  on  the 
hearts  of  all.”  The  pious  young  girl  who  braves  the  proud  threats 
of  a  tyrant,  that  she  may  not  incur  the  wrath  of  the  immortals.” 
already  speaks  as  the  martyrs  will  speak  at  a  later  day  ;  and  we  sym¬ 
pathize  with  the  poet  when  he  nobly  defends  the  rights  of  conscience. 
Rut  while  inspired  singers  are  sometimes  prophets  of  the  future,  the 
ruler  is  always  the  man  of  the  present,  and  it  is  his  duty  to  compel 
obedience  to  the  law  which  his  predecessors  have  bequeathed  to  him, 
and  whose  execution  society  demands  of  him. 

Tertullian  claims  from  Severus  religious  liberty:  *-It  is  human 
right  (jus  humanum ),”  he  says,  ‘-'that  each  one  may  worship  whom 
he  pleases;  and  it  is  contrary  to  religion  to  constrain  to  religion.”2 
These  were  beautiful  words  spoken  by  the  suffering  Church  ;  later  the 
victorious  Church  repudiated  them,  and  certain  sects  of  modern  times 
reject  them  still,  saying  to  their  opponents :  il  In  the  name  of  your 
principle  we  claim  liberty ;  by  virtue  of  ours,  we  refuse  it  to  you.” 

Ori  gen  also  is  indignant  that  the  Church  should  lie  included 
within  the  State;  and  he  is  right,  for  the  spiritual  tribunal  ought 
to  be  shielded  from  all  constraint.  But  at  a  future  day  the  Papacy, 
with  as  little  wisdom  as  the  Empire,  will  seek,  by  an  opposite 
error,  to  place  the  State  within  the  Church. 

Minucius  Felix  in  his  Octfuuus.  the  priest  of  Carthage  in  his  Apol¬ 
ogy *  and  with  them  all  the  defenders  of  the  new  faith,  plead  the  inno¬ 
cence  of  the  Christians  ;  and  they  are  thoroughly  right.  But  none  of 

'  t  O  v  O 

them  understood  that  historic  fatality  which,  in  religion  as  well  as  in 

1  Oct ur ius,  12:  Jam  nun  wluruinhn,  .»•»■</  si  tin.  tt/nhi'.  erne  s. 

A.d  Sea  pul.  2:  A  on  ixlti/tuuts  ist  cm/ <./■<.■  rcln/iuiu/u. 


THE  PERSECUTION  UNDER  SEVERUS. 


57 


government,  obliges  that  which  exists  to  seek  to  defend  itself,  and 
compels  the  old  society  to  repulse  those  who  assume  to  change  its  man¬ 
ners,  ideas,  and  institutions.  To  the  Romans,  conservators  of  the  an¬ 
cient  social  order,  the  Christians  were  dangerous  revolutionists ;  their 
acts  of  devotion  were  sacrilege ;  their  faith,  the  destruction  of  the  offi¬ 
cial  worship  and  of  the  political  organization  of  which  this  worship  was 
an  essential  element.1  Hence  the  reasoning  of  Tertullian,  demanding 
that  the  ordinary  rules  of  justice  be  applied  to  the  Christians,  is 
unsound,  in  spite  of  the  eloquence  which  supports  it.  “  All  crimes,” 
he  says,  “  are  imputed  to  them ;  but  they  are  interrogated  only  on 
this  topic,  —  ‘  Are  you  a  Christian  ?  ’  4  Yes.’  ”  2  This  was  the  entire 

procedure ;  and  torture,  commonly  used  to  force  the  culprit  to  confess 
his  crime,  is  used  in  the  case  of  the  Christian  to  extort  from  him  his 
permission,  by  the  denial  of  his  faith,  that  the  judge  may  declare  him 
innocent.  In  case  he  persists,  however,  a  more  complete  investiga¬ 
tion  is  not  necessary.  The  usual  accusations,  —  adoration  of  an  ass’s 
head,  murders  of  children  and  the  eating  of  their  flesh,  incestuous 
orgies  in  the  darkness  of  night,  —  all  this  interests  the  populace  ;  but 
the  judge  does  not  consider  it.  In  Christianity  he  sees  only  mystic 
reveries  and  anti-social  doctrines ;  in  the  Christian  only  a  public 
enemy  who,  upon  the  establishment  of  his  identity  as  such,  shall  be  at 
once  thrown  to  the  beasts.  The  Roman  Catholic  Inquisition  asked  no 
more  than  this  to  send  an  Albigensian  or  a  Protestant  to  the  stake.3 

These  persecutions,  which  excite  our  horror,  appeared  to  the 
contemporary  mind  merely  questions  of  public  order.  Against  the 
Christians  Rome  did  what  modern  governments  do  against  those 
who  attack  their  essential  principle ;  but  it  did  so  after  the  methods 
of  a  time  when  penal  legislation  was  lavish  of  death.4  This  is 

1  .  .  .  Sacrilegii  et  majestatis  rei  convenimur  (Tertullian,  Apol.  10).  He  recognizes  fur¬ 
ther  on  that  the  Emperors  could  not  be  at  the  same  time  et  Christiani  et  Caesar es  (ibid.  21). 

2  Confessio  nominis  non  examinatio  criminis  (ibid.,  Apol.  2). 

3  By  the  declaration  of  July  1st,  1686,  Louis  XIV.  pronounced  the  penalty  of  death 
against  those  who  should  be  found  performing  religious  services  other  than  Catholic  (Isambert, 
Coll,  des  anc.  lois  franp.  xx.  5).  Down  to  the  time  of  Louis  XVI.  Protestants  were  deprived 
of  civil  status,  and  in  the  present  century  there  have  been  cases  of  auto-da-fe  in  Spain.  As  to 
sorcerers  —  wretched  madmen  whom  the  Church  considered  as  imps  of  Satan  —  they  were 
burned  by  thousands.  In  Franche-Comte  there  were,  from  1606  to  1636,  a  hundred  executions 
and  sixty  banishments  for  deeds  of  sorcery  (Hist,  de  Jussey,  by  l’Abbe  Coudriet,  p.  379). 
Under  Louis  XV.  witches  were  also  burned  (Maury,  Magie  et  astrol.  p.  222) :  and  only  a  few 
years  ago  some  peasants  threw  into  a  furnace  an  old  woman  whom  they  believed  to  be  a 
witch.  [On  this  question,  see  the  interesting  chapter  in  Lecky’s  Hist,  of  Rationalism.  —  Ed.] 

4  This  harshness  of  penal  laws  lasted  very  long.  In  the  eighteenth  century  men  contented 


58  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


why  extenuating  circumstances  should  be  recognized  in  favor  of 
those  who  ordered  persecutions,  while  we  at  the  same  time  condemn 
in  the  strongest  terms  the  ideas  and  institutions  which  rendered 
these  enormities  possible.  There  is  another  duty  to  fulfil;  namely, — 
to  distinguish  among  the  persecutors  those  who  yielded  reluctantly 
and  in  slight  measure  to  the  passions  of  the  times,  and  those  who, 
sharing  them,  used  cruelty  instead  of  indulgence  in  the  execu¬ 
tion  of  unjust  laws.  Severus  should  be  placed  among  the  former ; 
for  though  he  was  less  wise  than  Hadrian,  he  was  wiser  than 
Diocletian. 

Trajan  had  made  a  state  crime  of  the  public  manifestation  of 
the  Christian  faith  ; 1  but  he  had  interdicted  the  seeking  for  this. 
Under  Marcus  Aurelius  we  find  a  decree  stating :  “  He  who  by 
superstitious  practices  shall  affright  the  inconstant  souls  of  men, 
shall  be  banished  to  an  island.”  2  This  rescript  did  not  designate 
the  Christians  by  name ;  but  they  were  certainly  included  among 
those  whom  it  was  to  affect.  This  was  a  second  step  towards 
persecution.  In  202  Severus  took  a  third.  On  the  banks  of  the 
Nile  he  placed  under  lock  and  key  the  books  of  Egyptian  theology, 
and  while  passing  through  Palestine  he  promulgated  an  edict 
which  prohibited  Christian  and  Jewish  propagandism. 

In  all  antiquity,  religion  and  the  state  had  been  so  closely 
united  that  a  Roman  could  not  comprehend  the  one  without  the 
other.  It  had  been  the  same  at  Jerusalem ;  hence  Rome  had 
officially  permitted  the  religion  of  the  Jews,  by  recognizing,  in 
the  treaties  made  with  them,  their  nationality.  It  was  easy  then 
to  apply  to  them  the  rescript  of  Severus  and  to  keep  them  shut 
up  within  their  own  race,  the  more  so  as  they  but  seldom  sought 
to  escape  from  it.  But  the  Christians  formed  a  sect,  and  not  a 
nation ;  they  were  recruited  everywhere,  even  among  the  Barba¬ 
rians.  To  enter  into  communication  with  the  enemies  of  the 
Empire,  was  in  itself  a  very  grave  matter;  but  to  induce  citizens 

themselves  with  burning  the  books ;  but  in  the  Middle  Ages  they  burned  those  who  wrote  them. 
Richelieu,  even,  had  a  poor  poet  hanged  whose  only  crime  was  the  writing  of  some  bad  verses 
against  the  government. 

1  See  Vol.  V.  p.  289.  Tertullian  ( Apol .  2)  marks  very  correctly  the  character  of  this 
rescript:  .  .  .  Inquirendos  qiiidem  non  esse,  oblatos  vero  puniri  oportet ;  and  one  fact,  placed  by 
Eusebius  (Hist.  eccl.  v.  21)  under  the  reign  of  Commodus,  shows  the  manner  in  which  the  law 
was  executed  (cf.  Vol.  V.  p.  462,  note  2). 

2  Digest,  xlviii.  19,  30. 


THE  PERSECUTION  UNDER  SEVERUS. 


59 


to  abandon  the  national  religion  was  nothing  less  than  treason, 
and  the  government  naturally  sought  to  stop  the  desertion  of  these 
fugitives  from  the  Roman  fatherland. 

The  edict,  however,  did  not  go  so  far  as  to  proscribe  the  exist¬ 
ing  Christian  communities ;  it  only  tended  to  prevent  them  from 
spreading.  Now,  this  prohibition  was  contrary  to  one  of  the  most 
imperative  commands  of  the  evangelical  law,  “  Go  and  teach  all 
nations.”  It  would  have  put  a  stop  to  conversions,  and  it  gave 
authority  to  take  action  against  those  who  sought  to  make  them. 

However,  the  search  for  Christians  was  not  as  yet  com¬ 
manded,  since  Tertullian  wrote  undisturbed  his  books  which  are 
so  severe  towards  the  pagans,  and  since  priests  could  teach,  heretics 
discuss,  believers  bring  aid  openly,  as  did  Origen,1  to  the  martyrs 
in  prison,  assist  them  at  the  tribunal,  encourage  them  even  in  the 
amphitheatre ;  and  finally,  since,  notwithstanding  the  very  large 
number  of  bishops,2  not  one  of  them  perished ;  to  the  Christians 

1  Eusebius,  Hist.  eccl.  vi.  3. . 

2  In  the  single  province  of  Africa,  Cyprian  assembled  in  council  eighty-seven  bishops  ( De 
Haereticis  baptizandis,  in  Cypr.  Oper.,  p.  328),  and  when  he  suffered  martyrdom  in  258,  he  was 
the  first  African  bishop  who  sealed  his  faith  with  his  blood.  The  fiery  Tertullian  lived 
undisturbed  even  to  extreme  old  age  ( Usque  ad  decrepitam  aetatem.  Saint  Jerome,  De  Vir. 
illustr.  53).  The  policy  of  the  persecution  called  that  of  Severus  was  not  to  attack  any  of  the 
most  important  men,  though  they  were  very  easily  to  be  found.  It  has  been  customary  to  men¬ 
tion  two  bishops,  Zoticus,  bishop  of  Comana  in  Cappadocia,  and  Irenaeus,  bishop  of  Lyons,  as 
martyrs  in  this  persecution.  Of  the  first,  Tillemont  makes  no  mention,  and  the  Bollandists 
say  of  him  (July  21st)  :  Ubi  et  quo  tempore  martyrium fecerit  faleor  mihi  hactenus  incompertum  esse 
As  for  the  second,  Saint  Cyprian  and  Clement  of  Alexandria  do  not  refer  to  him,  though  he  was 
the  most  prominent  of  their  contemporaries,  and  Tertullian,  who  often  copies  him,  does  not  give 
him  the  title  of  martyr.  The  Carthaginian  priest,  in  one  of  his  books  written  after  the  per¬ 
secution  of  Severus  ( quum  furor  Severi  restinctus  fuerat ),  and  at  a  later  date  than  the  year 
208  (cf.  Noesselt,  De  Vera  aetate  script.  Tertull.,  in  the  Tertullian  of  Oehler,  vol.  iii.  pp.  540  and 
605),  mentions  in  the  same  sentence  Saint  Justin,  whom  he  styles  “martyr,”  and  Irenaeus,  of 
whom  he  merely  says  that  he  was  omnium  doctrinarian  curiosissimus  explorator  ( Adv .  Valent.  5). 
If  the  Bishop  of  Lyons  had  suffered  martyrdom,  Tertullian  would  have  given  to  him  the  same 
title  as  to  Justin.  The  Bollandists  are  reduced  to  saying  (June  28th)  :  Nihil  invenimus  de  S. 
Irenaeo  quod  esset  antiquitate  aliqua  .  .  .  spectabile.  The  records  of  his  martyrdom  do  not  in 
fact  exist,  and  Gregory  of  Tours  is  the  first  who  relates  it  ( Gloria  Mart.  50).  Saint  Jerome, 
in  the  De  Vir.  illustr .,  terminates  the  chapter  which  he  devotes  to  Irenaeus  (the  35th)  by  these 
words,  which  necessarily  call  for  mention  of  the  martyrdom  if  it  had  taken  place :  Floruit 
maxime  sub  Commodo  principe.  True,  he  says  of  him  in  his  commentary  In  Isaiam,  64  :  Dili- 
gentissime  vir  apostolicus  scribit  Irenaeus  episcopus  Lugd.  et  martyr,  multarum  origines  explicans 
haereseon.  But,  on  the  one  hand,  this  book  of  Saint  Jerome  having  been  completed  later  than  the 
year  411,  —  that  is,  two  centuries  after  the  death  of  Irenaeus,  —  there  may  be  in  this  an  echo  of 
the  improbable  legend  reported  by  Gregory  of  Tours,  which  was  at  this  epoch  already  current. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  words  et  martyr  may  be  a  gloss  slipped  into  the  text.  We  know 
what  strange  liberties  were  taken  by  the  copyists  of  manuscript  or  by  those  under  whom  they 


60  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


there  were  left  their  chiefs  and  their  teachers,  their  assemblies,  and 
their  elections,  their  schools  of  catechumens,  and  their  cemeteries,1  — 
that  is  to  say,  their  organization  and  their  worship.  There  were 
executions  to  frighten  the  Church  and  to  put  a  stop,  by  means  of 
terror,  to  its  propagandism.  But  the  strokes  fell  only  on  the  in¬ 
significant  and  the  slaves,  whose  lives  were  of  little  consequence. 
The  victims  at  this  time  were  those  enthusiasts  of  the  lower 
classes  who  in  all  revolutions  are  the  most  active,  —  those  wdio 
by  their  own  acts  designated  themselves  to  the  judge  or  to  the  mob 
by  their  ardor  in  seeking  punishment,  or  those  who,  denounced 
to  the  magistrate  by  personal  enemies,  stood  their  ground  in  such 
a  way  as  to  bring  them  under  the  penalty  of  the  law.  But  the 
vocation  of  martyrdom  is  never  the  lot  of  any  but  a  small  minor¬ 
ity  ;  and  giving  information  in  cases  of  this  nature  had  its  dangers, 
because  the  delator  was  not  sure  but  the  accused  might  overthrow 
the  accusation  with  the  single  word  that  was  asked  of  him :  “  No, 
I  am  not  a  Christian !  ”  and,  as  we  know,  the  informer  who  did 
not  prove  his  statement  incurred  grave  responsibilities.2 

The  edict  of  Severus  not  ordering  search  to  be  made,  each  gov¬ 
ernor  enforced  it  according  to  his  own  character.  He  of  Cappa¬ 
docia,  irritated  against  the  Christians  who  had  converted  his  wife, 
by  violent  tortures  compelled  several  of  them  to  sacrifice  to  the  gods.3 
Lyons  had  the  same  ardor  for  idolatry  which  it  displayed  later  in 


labored.  The  recent  discovery  of  three  letters  of  Saint  Ignatius  would  be  a  new  proof,  if  we 
may  believe  Cureton,  in  his  Corpus  Irjnatianum  (Berlin,  1849). 

1  The  use  of  the  cemeteries  was  for  the  first  time  prohibited  to  the  Christians  by  an  edict 
of  Valerian  (Eusebius,  Hist.  eccl.  vii.  11 ;  and  Saint  Cyprian,  Epist.  83). 

2  An  individual  who  accused  Severus  of  magic  before  his  elevation  to  empire  was  crucified. 
Macrinus  caused  to  be  put  to  death  the  delatores,  si  non  probcirent  (Capit.,  Macr.  12);  and 
Gratian,  later,  renewed  this  law,  —  the  delator  who  does  not  prove  his  accusation  well  founded 
shall  suffer  the  penalty  which  would  have  been  inflicted  on  the  guilty  ( Cod .  Theod.  ix.  1,  14). 
If  the  charge  was  admitted,  the  accuser  received  one  fourth  of  (the  property  of  the  condemned ; 
it  was  therefore  a  business  at  once  lucrative  and  dangerous.  This  legal  responsibility  explains 
why  the  judges  should  have  refused  to  receive  mere  denunciations  by  letter,  and  required  the 
presence  of  the  delator.  (See  below,  pp.  71  et  seq.)  The  letter  of  Marcus  Aurelius  which 
circulated  in  the  Christian  schools  of  the  time  of  Tertullian  is  absolutely  false;  but  the  penalty 
which  it  fixes  for  the  calumniator,  —  adjecta  etiam  accusatoribus  damnatione  et  quidem  letriore 
(Apol.  5),  —  is  a  characteristic  feature  of  the  morals  of  the  age.  The  condemned  Christians, 
being  held  as  traitors,  had  their  goods  confiscated  (Eusebius,  Hist.  eccl.  vi.  2),  and  we  have 
just  seen  that  a  part  of  them  reverted  to  the  delator.  But  their  poverty  rendered  this  profit 
insignificant.  Hence  the  most  usual  accuser  was  the  populace,  who  by  their  clamors,  and 
sometimes  by  their  acts  of  violence,  provoked  an  execution. 

3  Alexander,  bishop  of  this  province,  was  imprisoned. 


THE  PERSECUTION  UNDER  SEVERUS. 


61 


behalf  of  the  new  faith.  If  the  tradition  of  the  Church  were 
sufficient  to  dispense  with  all  historic  testimony,  Saint  Irenaeus 
perished  there ;  but  his  contemporaries,  Tertullian,  Clement  of 
Alexandria,  and  Saint  Cyprian,  know  nothing  of  his  martyrdom.  The 
two  great  African  cities,  Carthage  and  Alexandria,  which  were  rivals 
in  magnificence,1  were  two  ardent  centres  of  religious  life.2  As 
soon  as  the  edict  of  Severus  became  known  to  them,  they  gave 
loose  rein  to  their  pagan  fury,  and  the  magistrates,  formally 
summoned  to  fulfil  their  legal  duty,  yielded  to  the  popular  pressure. 
Many  victims  are  mentioned  in 
Egypt,3  among  whom  was  the  father 
of  Origen.  Yet  at  Alexandria  the 
bishop,  Demetrius,  the  teacher  of 
Clement  and  Origen,  despite  the 
ardor  of  his  zeal,  escaped ;  it  was 
the  same  in  all  the  great  cities,  — 
at  Carthage,  Antioch,  Smyrna,  and 
Rome.  The  Roman  clergy  were 
already  numerous,  and  angry  dis¬ 
sensions  were  in  existence  among 
them  at  this  very  moment ;  none 
of  their  members,  however,  appear 
to  have  been  disturbed  :  Pope  Zepliy- 

THE  CITY  OF  ANTIOCH  PERSONIFIED.4 

rmus  and  Calixtus,  who  was  at  that 

time  very  prominent,  certainly  were  not.  In  the  province  of  Africa, 
one  of  the  latest  evangelized,  those  who  perished  were  almost  all 
obscure  Christians. 

1  Herod.,  vii.  6. 

2  See,  Vol.  VI.  p.  466,  note  3,  the  riots  caused  at  Carthage  by  the  priestesses  of  the  goddess 
Caelestis.  As  for  Alexandria,  it  was  the  great  laboratory  of  ideas  and  beliefs. 

3  It  is  doubtful,  however,  whether  Christianity  was  then  very  widely  spread  in  Egypt 
outside  the  capital,  and  whether,  consequently,  the  persecution  made  many  martyrs  there. 
Down  to  Demetrius,  who  at  that  time  occupied  the  episcopal  chair  of  Alexandria,  all  Egypt 
had  had  but  a  single  bishop  (cf.  Eutychius,  Ann.  i„  354,  Pocock’s  trans.),  while  the  province  of 
Africa,  evangelized  at  so  late  a  period  (Tillemont,  Mem.  eccle's.  i.  754),  reckoned  a  very 
great  number  of  them.  But  in  Alexandria  the  persecution  was  violent.  Cf.  Eusebius,  Hist, 
eccl.  vi.  1  :  fiaXiora  (TvXrjBvtv  iir  ’AXetjavbpdas. 

4  Engraved  stone  (cornelian,  14  mill,  by  11)  of  the  Cabinet  cle  France ,  No.  1,749  of  the 
catalogue,  and  Collection  de  Luynes,  No.  98.  M.  Chabouillet  thinks  he  recognizes  the  Emperor 
Alexander  Severus  in  the  warrior  who  is  crowning  the  city.  Bronze  coins  struck  at  Antioch 
during  the  reign  of  this  Emperor  bear  the  same  types.  See,  in  Vol.  V.  p.  155,  the  statue  of 
the  Vatican,  another  personification  of  the  city  of  Antioch. 


62 


THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


The  persecution  began  at  Carthage  after  a  riot,  the  populace 
seeking  to  force  the  governor  to  close  the  cemeteries  of  the  Chris¬ 
tians.1  Before  this  extreme  was  reached,  there  had  certainly  been 
acts  of  violence  in  the  streets ;  and  the  more  the  Christians  gained 
assurance  by  their  increasing  number,2  the  more  determination  and 
haughtiness  they  manifested  in  their  language  towards  the  pagans, 
the  more  odious  their  adversaries  would  consider  these  men  who 
seemed  to  desire  to  set  themselves  above  other  citizens  by  mani¬ 
festing  contempt  for  their  gods,  their  festivals,  and  their  pleasures.3 
Thus,  when  Rome  in  204  displayed  the  extreme  of  magnificence 
in  celebrating  the  Secular  Games,4  Tertullian  had  just  written, 
with  his  usual  vehemence,  a  book  against  all  public  amusements. 

The  first  martyrs  of  Carthage  were  the  twelve  Scillitans,  in 
ISO,5  among  whom  were  several  women.  In  the  second  “  combat,” 

1  In  remembrance  of  the  ten  plagues  of  Egypt,  ecclesiastical  writers  have  maintained  that 
the  Church  has  suffered  ten  persecutions.  They  reckon  four  anterior  to  Severus,  —  under  Nero 
(see  Vol.  V.  pp.  3  et  seq.),  Domitian  (ibid.  p.  209),  Trajan  (ibid.  pp.  288  et  seq.),  and  Marcus 
Aurelius  (ibid.  pp.  493  et  seq. )  ;  that  of  Severus  —  which  is  known  to  no  pagan  writer,  and  of 
which  Lactantius  does  not  speak  —  is  counted  the  fifth,  and  represented  as  very  violent.  It  is 
strange  that  Dion  Cassius,  so  prolix  a  writer,  has  not  once  named  the  Christians,  and  that  in 
all  the  Augustan  History,  several  editors  of  which  lived  under  Constantine,  we  find  barely  a 
few  words  about  them.  Evidently  these  persecutions,  which  for  fifteen  centuries  have  disturbed 
the  human  conscience,  took  place  in  the  inferior  strata  of  society,  or  at  least  did  not  agitate 
the  surface,  and,  down  to  Decius,  were  only  local  police  measures  or  popular  excesses. 

2  We  know  the  exaggerations  of  Justin  (Dial,  cum  Tryph.),  of  Saint  Irenaeus  (Adv.  haer. 
i.  3),  and  of  Tertullian  (Ad  Scap.  2,  and  Apol.  37)  ;  they  are  famous.  The  Octavius  of  Minu- 
cius  Felix,  written  towards  the  close  of  the  second  century,  exhibits  the  Christians  as  very  few 
in  number,  and  very  obscure.  At  the  middle  of  the  century  following,  Origen,  comparing  them 
to  the  mass  of  the  pagans,  yet  said:  cos  vvv  7 raw  dXlyoi  (Contra.  Cels.  viii.  69).  In  Syria,  the 
province  most  easily  opened  to  Christianity,  “  no  Christian  catacomb  anterior  to  the  fourth 
century,  no  well-authenticated  Christian  monument  reared  before  ‘  the  peace  of  the  Church,’ 
has  up  to  the  present  time  been  discovered”  (De  Vogue,  Inscr.  semiliques,  p.  55).  Still,  it  is 
certain  that  the  number  of  the  Christians  increased  greatly  during  the  long  repose  which  they 
enjoyed  between  Severus  and  Decius. 

3  The  terms  of  reproach  applied  to  the  Christians  by  the  pagans  are  enumerated  in  the 
Octavius  of  Minucius  Felix  by  Caecilius,  the  advocate  of  paganism. 

4  Since  the  establishment  by  Augustus  of  the  Ludi  saeculares,  to  commemorate  the  found¬ 
ing  of  Rome,  these  games  had  been  celebrated  by  several  of  the  Emperors.  To  conform  to 
their  name  and  to  the  intention  of  Augustus,  they  should  have  occurred  at  regular  intervals 
once  in  each  century  ( saeculum )  ;  but  such  was  by  no  means  the  case.  They  were  celebrated 
by  Augustus  in  the  year  17  b.  c. ;  by  Claudius  in  47  a.  d.  ;  by  Domitian  in  88;  by  Antoninus 
in  147;  by  Septimius  Severus  in  204;  and  they  were  observed  for  the  last  time  by  Philippus 
248  a.  D.,  just  a  thousand  years  from  the  founding  of  the  city. 

5  I  place  their  execution  at  this  date,  following  M.  L.  Renier,  who  has  with  correct  judg¬ 
ment  recognized  the  consuls  of  a.d.  180,  Praesente  II  et  Condiano  coss.,  in  the  consuls  mentioned 
in  the  Acta,  whose  names  have  been  corrupted  by  the  copyists.  What  is  said  by  Tertullian, 
De  Corona  (initio),  concerning  the  long  peace  which  the  Christians  enjoyed  in  Africa  before 


THE  PERSECUTION  UNDER  SEVERUS. 


63 


which  took  place  the  tenth  year  of  the  reign  of  Severus  (202),1 
the  slave  Felicitas  and  the  matron  Perpetua  also  perished,  with 
others  who  made  confession. 

Their  sacrifice  is  related  at  length  in  the  Martyrology ,  in 
accounts  filled  with  miraculous  visions  and  heroic  deaths.  These 
soldiers  of  Christ  were  noble  combatants,  but  of  a  sort  hitherto 
unknown.  In  ancient  times  a  man  died  for  his  country,  —  that  is 
to  say,  for  his  fellow-citizens  ;  in  the  first  century  of  the  Empire, 
Thrasea  and  many  others  died  for  human  justice  :  now  men  died 
for  the  sake  of  heaven.  In  three  phrases  may  be  summed  up  the 
vast  revolution  which  in  three  centuries  had  occurred  in  men’s 
ideas :  the  civis  Eomanus  sum  of  the  great  days  was  an  utterance  of 
patriotic  pride ;  when  the  Stoic  called  himself  civis  mundi,  he  still 
did  not  deny  his  country  :  but  the  Christian  who,  to  the  question 
of  the  magistrate,  “Who  are  you?”  rejoined  u  Servus  Christi,"  was 
no  longer  of  this  world.  This  change  proclaims  that  in  the  state 
now  about  to  be  formed,  ties  of  family  and  of  country  will  be  to 
many  as  if  they  did  not  exist.  The  disciples  of  the  new  faith 

had  been  forbidden  to  take  thought  for  the  morrow.  “  Behold  the 

birds  of  the  heaven,  that  they  sow  not,  neither  do  they  reap,  nor 
gather  into  barns  ;  and  your  heavenly  Father  feedeth  them.  .  .  . 
Consider  the  lilies  of  the  field,  how  they  grow ;  they  toil  not, 

neither  do  they  spin :  yet  I  say  unto  you,  that  even  Solomon  in 

all  his  glory  was  not  arrayed  like  one  of  these.”  Together  with 
the  noblest  words  on  the  duties  of  charity,  justice,  and  the  love 
of  one’s  neighbors  are  evangelic  commands  which  have  cost  human¬ 
ity  many  tears,  and  instigated  many  separations.  “  I  came  to  set 
a  man  at  variance  against  his  father,  and  the  daughter  against 
her  mother :  .  .  .  and  a  man’s  foes  shall  be  they  of  his  own 


a.  d.  202,  justifies  our  opinion.  The  Scillitan  martyrs  appear  to  have  been  the  first  in  Africa 
(Ruinart,  Acta  sincera,  p.  34),  as  those  of  Lyons  were  the  first  in  Gaul.  Sulpicius  Severus 
(ii.  46)  says  in  reference  to  the  tardy  evangelization  of  Gaul:  Serins  trans  Alpes  Dei  religione 
suscepta.  On  the  order  of  proceedings  followed  in  the  trials  of  the  Christians,  see  the  learned 
paper  by  M.  Le  Blant  in  the  Me)n.  cle  I’Acad.  des  inscr.  vol.  xxx.  part  second.  The  author 
makes  a  distinction  between  the  Acta ,  or  transcriptions,  more  or  less  exact,  of  the  judicial 
examinations,  which  the  Christians  sometimes  obtained  by  payment  of  money,  and  the  Pas- 
siones ,  in  which  the  historical  foundation  is  burdened  with  marvellous  legends.  The  Acta  pro- 
consularia  of  Saint  Cyprian  (see  in  chap,  xcvi.)  and  the  passio  of  Saint  Perpetua  give  a  good 
understanding  of  these  two  kinds  of  documents.  On  the  sources  of  certain  martyrologies,  see 
another  article  of  M.  Le  Blant,  1879. 

1  Eusebius,  Hist.  eccl.  vi.  2. 


64  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


household.”  And  to  his  disciples  asking  what  reward  they  should 
have  for  following  him,  Jesus  replied :  “  There  is  no  man  that  hath 
left  house,  or  brethren,  or  sisters,  or  mother,  or  father,  or  children, 
or  lands,  for  my  sake,  .  .  .  but  he  shall  receive  eternal  life.”  We 
must  observe  this  side  of  Christianity  ;  for  these  words  still  exer¬ 
cise  their  influence,  and  human  society  has  been  profoundly  affected 
by  them.  Before  giving  rise  to  monastic  orders,  to  all  macerations 
of  the  flesh,  and  to  heroic  acts  of  devotion  which  are  still  exhib¬ 
ited,1  they  were  the  inspiration  of  martyrs.  Read  the  Acts  of 
Saint  Perpetua.  It  has  been  said  that  certain  pages  seem  to 
have  been  written  with  a  pen  plucked  from  an  angel’s  wing,  so 
touching  is  the  poetry  found  in  them.  I  grant  it ;  and  if  this 
death  was  not  courted,2  —  if,  dragged  against  her  will  before  the 
judge,  Perpetua  refuses  to  conceal  her  faith,  —  it  is  the  sentiment  of 
duty  and  honor  which  animates  her,  and  her  courage  is  sublime. 
But  as  a  historian  of  human  deeds,  I  must  in  the  saint  see  also 
the  woman  who  publicly  defies  the  laws  of  her  country,  and  must 
exhibit  the  mother  abandoning  her  child,  the  daughter  exposing 
her  aged  father  to  every  insult.  “Have  pity  on  my  white  locks,” 
he  said  to  her ;  “  have  pity  on  thy  father  !  Behold  thy  mother,  thy 
brothers,  thy  son,  who  cannot  live  without  thee  !  Suffer  thy  pride 
(animos)  to  bend ;  do  not  condemn  us  all  to  mortal  woes !  ”  3  And 
he  kissed  her  hands,  he  threw  himself  at  her  feet.  But  she 
exclaimed :  “  Depart  from  me,  ye  workers  of  iniquity ;  I  know 
you  not.”  The  procurator  also  cried  out  to  her :  “  Spare  then  thy 
father,  spare  thy  son !  ”  As  a  last  trial,  he  caused  her  father  to 
be  beaten  with  rods  in  her  presence.  She  persisted ;  and  it  is  her 
glory,  that  also  of  the  Church  which  knew  how  to  inspire  such 
sacrifices,  and  gathered  the  fruit  of  them.  But  it  must  be  said, 
this  young  woman  who  went  to  her  death  crushing  the  hearts 
of  all  her  family,  is  a  heroine  of  a  peculiar  nature.  She  died 
for  herself  in  order  to  live  eternally ;  but  true  heroes  die  for 
others  :  the  sister  of  charity  does  so. 

1  By  missionaries  and  sisters  of  charity. 

2  It  must  have  been  ;  since  the  law  forbade  searching  for  Christians,  and  attacked  those 
only  who  offered  themselves  as  martyrs. 

3  Ne  universos  nos  extermines  (Ruinart,  Acta  sincera ).  Her  father  goes  away.  “  I  thank 
God,”  she  says,  “  that  I  have  been  several  days  without  seeing  my  father ;  his  absence  permits 
me  to  enjoy  a  little  rest”  (Ibid.).  Saint  Irenaeus  of  Sirmium  will  speak  in  the  same  way 
(Ruinart,  Acta  sincera ,  i.  430  et  seq.). 


THE  PERSECUTION  UNDER  SEVERUS, 


65 


Modern  theologians  continue  to  say :  “  The  question  of  salvation 
is  a  personal  question,  and  it  matters  little  that  the  family  or  the 
city  be  broken  up  by  it,”1 2 — as  if  the  city  and  the  family  were 
not  of  divine  institution,  since  they  are  a  necessity  of  our  nature ! 
Christianity  loves  death,  adorning  it  like  a  bride  impatiently 
awaited,  calling  it  life :  Vivit,  —  writing  upon  the  tomb  of  the 


believer,  “  He  lives  for  immortality.”  Thus  men  felt  in  the  prim¬ 
itive  Church.  The  more  tears  and  broken  hearts  there  were  around 
these  voluntary  victims,  the  more  meritorious  appeared  the  sac¬ 
rifice,  and  the  higher  the  martyr  seemed  to  ascend  into  the  glory 
of  God,  whence  he  would  protect  those  whom  he  left  behind. 
Heaven  and  earth  were  henceforth  but  one  city,  having  in  the 
saints  its  patrons,  and  in  its  divine  membership  the  company  of 

1  Abbe  Freppel,  Saint  Cyprien,  p.  53. 

2  Sepulchres  adjoining  the  Jewish  catacombs  of  the  Via  Appia  (Roller,  op.  cit.  pi.  iv. 
No.  2). 

VOL.  VII. 


5 


66  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


the  faithful,1  —  a  beautiful  and  poetic  belief,  which  again  found 
Jacob’s  ladder  with  “  the  angels  of  the  Lord  ascending  and  descend¬ 
ing  upon  it.”  Accordingly,  each  community  was  happy  and  proud 
of  these  immolations.  Sometimes  friends  and  neighbors,  in  their 
fierce  piety,  exalted  the  ardor  of  the  martyrs :  they  encouraged  them 
with  the  words  of  the  Apostles,  and  showed  them  all  the  celestial 
army  present  at  their  triumph,  and  ready  to  receive  them  into 
glory.  Origen  urges  his  father  to  the  execution;2  Numidicus  “with 
a  saintly  joy”  beholds  his  wife  burning  on  the  pile;  the  mother 
of  Saint  Symphorian,  her  son  going  to  death ;  another,  her  husband 
in  the  midst  of  tortures.  “Raise  your  eyes  on  high,”  those  who 
stood  by  cried  to  the  martyrs,  “  and  you  shall  see  him  for  whom 
you  fight.”  The  love  of  God  takes  the  place  in  their  hearts  of  all 
those  affections  which  God  has  nevertheless  made  a  duty  in  bestow¬ 
ing  them  upon  us.  Heaven  is  opened  to  their  gaze ;  of  the  earth 
they  see,  they  feel  nothing,  not  even  the  claws  and  teeth  of  the 
lions  which  rend  their  flesh.3  Dragged  in  the  arena  by  a  furious 
bull,  Blandina  and  Perpetua  “converse  with  the  Lord,”  and,  being 
taken  up  bleeding,  they  ask  when  the  “  combat  ”  will  begin  ;  a  divine 
frenzy  had  possessed  them.  Man  must  have  an  ideal ;  it  is  the  honor 
of  Christianity  that  its  own  was  placed  so  high,  at  a  time  when 
all  others  had  ceased  from  the  earth.  At  the  same  time  it  was 
perilous  to  place  this  ideal  so  far  from  earth,  —  not  from  the  enjoy¬ 
ments  which  are  to  be  found  here,  but  from  the  duties  which  we 
are  here  required  to  fulfil. 

First  by  mysticism,  then  in  trances,  lastly,  by  visions,  the  soul 
ascends  to  the  heavenly  regions,  and  while  still  attached  to  the 
body,  loses  itself  in  God.  During  this  intense  concentration 
of  the  thought  upon  a  single  object,  the  physical  sensibility  is 
abolished  by  a  sort  of  temporary  paralysis  of  the  nervous  system, 
which  causes  even  the  feeling  of  pain  to  disappear,  as  we  suppress 
it  naturally  by  anaesthetics.  This  condition  —  which  is  now  well 
understood  —  is  called,  in  the  language  of  the  Church,  “rapture;” 
in  the  language  of  the  world,  the  enthusiasm  which  makes  the 

1  The  expression  is  Saint  Augustine’s:  .  .  .  tanquam  patronis  ( De.  Cura  pro  mortuis.  10). 
An  inscription  calls  them  .  .  .  apud  Deum  advocati  (De  Rossi,  Roma  softer,  ii.  383). 

2  Eusebius,  Hist.  eccl.  vi.  2.  In  his  treatise  Ad  Martyres,  27,  Origen  shows  all  heaven 
contemplating  the  combat  and  the  victory  of  “  the  confessors.” 

3  Nihil  crus  sentit  in  nervo,  cum  animus  in  caelo  est  (Tertullian,  Ad  Mart.  2). 


THE  PERSECUTION  UNDER  SEVERUS. 


67 


strength  of  heroes :  that  of  Mucius  Scaevola  burning  his  hand  in 
the  fire  of  the  altar,  and  that  of  martyrs  tranquilly  enduring  the 
severest  tortures.  “  Look  us  well  in  the  face,”  said  a  martyr  to  a 
pagan  present  in  the  prison  at  the  Christian’s  last  repast,  —  “  look 
.at  me  well,  that  you  may  recognize  me  at  the  Last  Judgment.” 


This  ardent  faith,  these  tragic  spectacles,  were  disastrous  to 
paganism.  Conscience  revolted  at  witnessing  such  deaths,  and  men 
who  had  come  to  these  scenes  as  to  an  entertainment,  went  away 
troubled  in  heart  and  asking  themselves :  “  What  can  this  faith  be 
then  which  gives  such  courage  and  such  hope  ?  ”  The  blood  of 
the  martyrs  was  the  seed  of  the  Church,2  which,  11  like  a  vine  whose 

1  Roller,  pi.  xliv.  fig.  3.  Symbolical  representation  of  the  harvest  made  by  the  Church 
“in  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord.”  The  figures  on  the  sarcophagus  represented  on  the  next  page 
are  as  follows  :  Above,  at  the  left,  Jesus  at  the  tomb  of  Lazarus;  Saint  Peter  and  the  cock; 
Moses  receiving  the  law.  In  the  medallion,  the  dead  commemorated  by  the  sarcophagus.  At 
the  right,  the  sacrifice  of  Abraham,  and  Pilate  about  to  wash  his  hands.  Below,  Moses  and 
the  pillar  of  fire ;  Daniel  and  the  lions ;  Jesus  healing  a  blind  man ;  Jesus  blessing  the  bread 
and  fishes. 

2  Tertullian,  Apol.  50. 


68  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


shoots  are  cut  back,  became  the  more  fruitful  for  it.” 1  Oftentimes, 
even  the  magistrate  would  gladly  have  dismissed  the  “devoted,” 
who  came  and  asked  for  death  with  the  fervor  of  a  Hindoo  throwing- 
himself  under  the  car  of  Juggernaut.2  The  imperial  officer  required 
only  a  word  from  them,  an  appearance  of  submission  to  the  law. 
“  Since  you  believe  that  there  is  but  one  God,  sacrifice  to  Jupiter 
only,”  wras  the  appeal  often  made  to  them.3  But  the  martyrs 
refuse,  and  the  Church  encourages  them  in  their  noble  obstinacy. 
Tertullian,  Cyprian,  Origen  even  drew  up  manuals  for  “preparation” 
for  martyrdom.4  The  pcissiones ,  read  in  church  after  the  gospel, 
constituted  another  preparation.  What  contagious  ardor  was  awak¬ 
ened  in  these  assemblies  where  men  were  taught  that  the  martyr 
became  “  the  companion  of  Christ  in  his  suffering,” 5  or  when  the 
deacon  read  the  letter  of  Saint  Ignatius  to  the  Romans  who  desired 
to  save  him  from  execution :  “  I  write  to  you  living,  but  enamoured 
of  death.6  I  am  afraid  of  your  affection  !  What  is  death  for  Christ  ? 
A  beautiful  sunset  preceding  the  radiant  dawn  of  a  divine  day. 
I  am  God’s  wheat;  the  teeth  of  the  beasts  will  crush  me,  and  I 
shall  become  the  purified  bread  of  the  Lord.  Ah,  let  me  enjoy 
my  lions  !  ”  7 


1  Saint  Justin,  Dial,  cum  Tryph.  p.  337  (1636). 

2  Clement  of  Alexandria,  blaming  wliat  he  calls  “  a  brutal  impatience  for  death,”  adds : 
“  Their  death  is  not  a  martyrdom,  but  a  suicide ;  they  are  like  the  Indian  gymnosophists,  who 
light  their  own  funeral  pile”  {Strom,  iv.  4)  ;  and  the  sixtieth  canon  of  the  Council  of  Elvira 
contains  the  same  teaching.  This  intensity  of  heavenly  love,  which  tends  to  absolute  separa¬ 
tion  from  the  world  and  union  with  God,  is  a  psychological  condition  which  is  also  found 
among  the  sufis  of  Persia  and  elsewhere.  See  the  translation  of  the  Fruit  Garden  of  Sa’adi 
by  Barbier  de  Meynard. 

3  Acta  S.  Tarachi  in  304  ;  S.  Philae  in  302. 

4  Le  Blant,  op.  laud.  p.  65.  The  fourth  book  of  the  Stromata  of  Clement  of  Alexandria  is 
of  this  character.  It  was  customary  even  to  employ,  in  preparing  the  martyrs  for  the  torture, 
prolonged  fastings,  which  heightened  the  mystical  exaltation ;  and  to  martyribus  incertis  was 
served  a  bountiful  repast,  ending  with  narcotic  or  intoxicating  draughts,  so  as  to  prevent  a 
failure,  by  delivering  to  the  executioner  only  an  inert  body  no  longer  sensible  to  pain.  .  .  . 
Condito  mero,  tanquam  antidoto  praemedicatum  ita  enervastis  ut  paucis  ungulis  titillatus  ( hoc  enim 
ebrietas  sentiebat )  .  .  .  respondere  non  potuerit  amplius,  atque  .  .  .  cum  singultus  et  ructus  solos 
liaberet  .  .  .  discessit  (Tertullian,  De  Jejunio,  12).  Saint  Augustine  ( Tract atus,  xxvii.  on 
St.  John,  sect.  12)  makes  allusion  to  this  usage:  .  .  .  quia  bene  manducaverat  et  bene  biberat, 
tanquam  ilia  esca  saginatus  et  illo  calice  ebrius ,  tormenta  non  sensit. 

5  Quid  gloriosius  quam  collegam  passionis  cum  Christo  factum  fuisse?  (Letters  of  Roman 
Confessors  to  Saint  Cyprian  :  Cypr.,  Op.  Ep.  31.) 

6  ’Epwi/  tov  dnoOaveiv  ( Ep .  ad  Rom.).  On  the  Letters  of  Saint  Ignatius,  see  Vol.  V.  p.  289, 
note  3. 

7  'Ovaipyv  riov  dqpiow  (ibid.).  It  cannot  be  doubted  that  in  the  narrative  of  the  theatrical' 


THE  PERSECUTION  UNDER  SEYERUS. 


69 


With  the  account  of  the  tortures  the  martyrologists  mingled 
that  of  the  visions  which  the  confessors  had  had  in  the  exaltation 
of  faith  and  in  the  fever  of  the  last  day,  or  of  those  which  were 
attributed  to  them  to  exhibit  the  promised  reward.  “We  suffered,” 
says  Satur,  one  of  the  companions  of  Perpetua,  “  and  we  forsook 
our  bodies.  Four  angels  bore  us  to  the  East,  towards  an  intense 
light.  Arriving  at  a  garden  where  rose-trees  tall  as  cypresses  were 
perpetually  strewing  the  earth  with  their  flowers,  we  approached  a 
place  whose  walls  seemed  to  be  made  of  light.  At  the  gate  four 
angels  were  standing :  they  clad  us  in  white  robes  of  dazzling  pur¬ 
ity  ;  and  when  we  had  entered,  we  heard  voices  repeating :  4  Holy, 
holy,  holy !  ’  In  the  midst  we  saw  as  it  were  a  man  seated ;  he 
had  white  hair  and  the  countenance  of  a  young  man.  The  angels 
raised  us  up,  and  he  gave  us  the  kiss  of  peace ;  and  the  four  and 
twenty  elders  seated  at  his  side  said  unto  us :  4  Go  and  be  happy !  ’ 
And,  indeed,  we  experienced  more  delight  than  we  had  ever  known 
in  the  flesh.”  Thus  “the  joy  of  heaven  rose  out  of  the  dismal 
prison,  and  the  crown  of  flowers  bloomed  above  the  bloody  thorns.”  1 
In  this  literature  of  martyrdom,  which  is  so  entirely  a  new  thing, 
we  still  find  the  same  inability  of  the  imagination  to  picture  the 
abode  of  the  blessed ;  it  was,  however,  a  realm  of  poetry  hitherto 
unknown,  and  enthusiastic  souls  were  content  with  it. 

The  pagans  said  of  the  martyrs :  “  These  men  are  mad.” 
Bossuet,  taking  up  the  word  to  extol  it,  celebrates  “the  madness 
of  Christianity ;  ”  and  we  still  praise  “  the  foolishness  of  the  cross.” 

To  an  ostentatious  display  of  piety  and  courage  by  the  con¬ 
fessors,  which  provoked  the  pagans  and  impelled  them  to  new  acts 
of  violence,  Clement  prefers  the  prudence  which,  without  cowardly 
concessions,  avoids  peril ; 2  Saint  Cyprian  invites  martyrdom,  yet  will 
not  have  men  hasten  to  meet  it ; 3  Saint  Peter  of  Alexandria  even 
consents  that  his  life  should  be  ransomed  by  payment  of  money;4 

suicide  of  Pei’egrinus,  Lucian  had  in  mind  the  martyrs  who  also  “  offered  themselves  volun¬ 
tarily  to  death.” 

1  See,  in  addition,  the  fine  peroration  of  the  De  Mortalitate  of  Saint  Cyprian. 

2  Strom,  iv.  4,  17.  He  himself  retired  from  Alexandria  at  the  moment  of  persecution. 

3  See  Saint  Cypr.,  Ep.  83  :  Letter  to  the  Clergy  and  the  People  of  Carthage. 

4  Paciscares  cum  delatore,  vel  milite,  vel  furunculo  aliquo  praesida  (Tertullian,  De  Fuga,  12). 
Churches  obtained  immunity  from  disturbance  by  payment  of  a  sum  of  money;  “  in  which,” 
says  Peter  of  Alexandria  {Can.  12),  “  they  displayed  more  attachment  to  Jesus  Christ  than  to 
their  money ;  carrying  out  the  precept  of  Scripture  :  ‘  The  ransom  of  a  man’s  life  is  his  riches  ’  ” 
(Prov.  xiii.  8;  cf.  Tillemont,  Hist,  des  Eriip.  iii.  104).  He  says  in  addition:  Iis  qui  pecuniam 


70  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  23 o  a.  d. 


and  letters  of  ransom  were  numerous.1  Indeed,  Jesus  liimself  had 
retired  at  the  approach  of  his  enemies,  “  because  his  hour  was 
not  yet  come ;  ”  and  he  had  said  to  his  disciples :  “  And  when  they 
persecute  you  in  this  city,  flee  into  the  next.”  These  words  have 
become  the  doctrine  of  the  Church. 

We  admire  the  holy  enthusiasm  “of  the  soldiers  of  Christ,”  — 
these  sacrifices  which  are  the  highest  honor  of  human  nature ;  and 
we  know  that  martyrs  make  causes  to  triumph.  History  must  take 
threat  account  of  this  singular  condition  of  men’s  minds,  because  it 
explains  the  approaching  revolutions ;  but  it  is  also  the  duty  of  his¬ 
tory  to  note,  as  one  of  the  important  facts  in  human  annals,  the 
rise  in  the  Western  world  of  a  new  spirit,  whose  influence  still  en¬ 
dures,  and  has  impelled  so  many  holy  men  to  break  with  the  duties 
of  social  life.  After  persecutions  had  ceased,  this  exclusive  love  of 
heaven  continued  to  make  earth  unattractive,  and  withdrew  from 
the  period  to  which  they  belonged,  great  multitudes  of  men  who 
by  remaining  in  it  would  have  aided  in  rendering  its  life  more 
pure.  Before  Constantine,  this  spirit  makes  martyrs;  after  him, 
it  will  make  monks,  occupied  at  first  with  their  own  salvation, 
afterwards  with  that  of  others,  and  destined  to  be  organized  as 
powerful  communities  in  the  bosom  of  civil  society,  in  order  to 
lead  and  dominate  it.  Without  the  monastic  institution,  which 

dederunt  .  .  .  crimen  intendi  non  potest  (ibid,  apud  Labbe,  Concil.  i.  955  ;  cf.  Fleury,  Hist, 
eccles.  ii.  51,  and  Le  Blant,  Polyeucte  et  le  zele  temeraire,  in  the  'Mem.  de  VAcad.  des  inscr. 
vol.  xxviii.  2d  part). 

1  “The  bishops,”  says  Fleury  (ibid.  ii.  86),  “approved  this  conduct.”  Not  all;  but  the 
usage  was  certainly  common,  for  Tertullian,  with  his  customary  vigor,  attacks  (De  Fuga,  12) 
“  those  who  purchase  by  tribute  the  right  to  be  Christians,”  and  Saint  Cyprian,  in  his  letter  to 
Antonianus,  bishop  of  Numidia,  enumerating  the  various  “  lapses,”  expresses  the  opinion  that 
the  least  culpable  is  that  of  a  Christian  who,  having  had  occasion  to  procure  for  himself  a  let¬ 
ter  of  ransom,  goes  to  the  magistrate,  or  sends  another  in  his  place,  and  says:  “Being  a  Chris¬ 
tian,  it  is  not  permitted  to  me  to  sacrifice  unto  idols  ;  but  I  give  money  not  to  do  it.”  Is  cui 
libellus  acceptus  est  dicit  .  .  .  cum  occasio  libelli  fuisset  oblata  ...  ad  magistratum  veni  .  .  . 
dare  me  hoc  premium  ne  quod  non  licet  faciam  (Cypr.,  Ep.  53,  ad  Ant.;  edit.  Baluze).  He  often 
speaks  of  the  libellatici  (see  ibid.,  index,  at  this  word).  By  these  letters,  in  which  there  seems 
to  have  been  quite  a  traffic,  the  Christians  acknowledged  that  they  had  sacrificed  to  the  gods, 
although  they  had  not  done  so,  or  the  judge  declared  that  those  who  had  obtained  them  should 
no  longer  be  disturbed  (Lambert,  Rem.  sur  les  oeuvres  de  Saint  Cyprien,  p.  353),  which  reminds 
us  of  the  French  cards  of  citizenship  during  the  Reign  of  Terror.  In  both  cases,  tolerance 
was  purchased  by  payment  of  money.  This  was  not  a  tribute  similar  to  the  didrachma  of  the 
Jews  under  the  Romans,  and  the  liaratch  of  the  Greeks  under  the  Mohammedans;  the  govern¬ 
ment  had  imposed  no  tax  on  the  Christians  :  Nihil  nobis  Caesar  indixit  in  hunc  modum  stipen- 
diariae  sectae  (Tertullian,  De  Fuga,  12).  It  was  an  extortion  of  the  magistrates,  which  the 
government  connived  at.  This  ransom,  being  in  fact  a  penalty,  appeared  to  satisfy  the  law 
and  dispense  with  shedding  the  blood  of  inoffensive  men. 


p4 

P 

P 

i-3 

t— I 

P 

O 

P 

P 

O 

P 

o 

p 


02 

t4 

EH 

p 

E-*- 

c 

ft 

p 

r 

p 

t- 

O 

CC 

P 

p 

<* 

<1 

C-i 

P 

P 

p 

Eh 

p 

< 

02 

P 

p 

. 

K 

T— 1 

EH 

GC 

Cl 

p 

O 

P 

c 

£ 

P 

p 

P 

02 

> 

p 

t*: 

s 

r  h 

p: 

p 

P 

p 

H 

EH 

-<; 

p 

p 

P 

M 

o 

p 

K* 

w 

h- 3 

M 

l-i 

o 

p3 

1 

1 

c 

1 

E- 

1 

i_^ 

1 

< 

£ 

1 

»— 

m 

h- 

) 

o 

< 

1 

p 

1 

p 

* 

c 

o 

p$ 

< 

a; 

I 


The  Library 
®»  the  * 

Unfveretty  of  WWnolt. 


THE  PERSECUTION  UNDER  SEVERUS. 


71 


grows  out  of  the  idea  which  the  martyrs  followed,  the  Church 
would  not  have  become  a  persecutor  in  its  turn  ■  at  least  it 
would  not  have  been  so  with  the  same  perseverance. 

To  the  survivors  of  exile,  of  prison,  of  tortures,  a  sanctity  was 
accorded  which  impelled  some  of  them  to  usurp  episcopal  functions, 
by  giving  letters  of  communion  to  lap  si ;  that  is,  to  brethren  who 
had  denied  their  faith.  There  were  at  Carthage  and  Rome  great 
debates  on  this  subject,  to  which  the  Letters  of  Saint  Cyprian  bear 
testimony.  It  was  the  beginning  of  a  poetical  and  dangerous 
doctrine,  that  of  indulgences  founded  on  the  merits  of  saints. 

In  the  case  of  the  confessors  whom  the  magistrates  had  not 
spared,  their  death  being  for  the  faithful  a  cause  of  edification  and  of 
just  pride,  the  hagiographers  of  later  ages  strangely  multiplied  their 
number.  The  murder,  for  instance,  of  the  nine  thousand  Lyonnese, 
slaughtered  with  their  bishop,  Saint  Irenaeus,  by  the  legions  of 
Severus,  and  the  rivers  of  blood  which  flow  through  the  city,1  form 
a  legend  which  even  those  who  would  be  most  disposed  to  swell 
the  number  of  the  martyrs  do  not  venture  to  accept.  The  wise 
Tillemont  does  not  mention  them,  nor  does  he  seem  any  more  certain 
that  Pope  Victor  suffered  martyrdom  at  Rome,2  or  that  Severus 
put  to  death  Saint  Andaeolus  by  ordering  his  head  to  be  cleft  into 
four  parts  with  a  wooden  sword ;  and  the  manner  in  which  he 
quotes  the  Acts  of  Saint  Felicitas  and  of  her  seven  sons  —  a 
legend  copied  from  that  of  the  seven  Maccabaean  brothers  — 
indicates,  under  his  prudent  reserve,  doubts  which  are  justified  by 
the  strange  details  given  by  the  martyrologist.3 

The  friendship  which  unites  the  interlocutors  in  the  dialogue 
of  Minucius  shows  that  Christians  and  pagans  could  live  on  very 
good  terms  with  each  other ;  and  many  governors,  seeing,  like 
Seneca’s  brother  and  like  Festus,  with  the  utmost  indifference 
practices  which  did  not  endanger  the  public  order,  favored  the 

1  .  .  .  Et  per  plateas  Jlumina  currerent  de  sanguine  (Greg,  of  Tours,  i.  27). 

2  Fleury  (Hist.  eccl.  i.  522)  makes  him  die  a  natural  death;  and  this  is  the  conclusion  to 
be  drawn  from  chap.  xxiv.  of  Saint  Jerome,  in  his  De  Vir.  illustr.,  devoted  to  Saint  Victor. 

3  Like  Tillemont,  the  Chevalier  de  Rossi  places  the  martyrdom  of  Saint  Felicitas  and  of 
her  seven  sons  under  Marcus  Aurelius.  M.  Aube  (Hist,  des  persec.  pp.  438  et  seq .)  combats 
this  opinion;  at  most,  he  would  consent  to  date  back  the  punishment  of  Felicitas  to  the  reign 
of  Severus.  But  the  reasons  which  he  gives  do  not  allow  him  to  accept  the  authenticity  of 
these  Acts.  i  therefore  dismiss  this  leg-end  from  the  reign  of  Severus,  as  M.  Aube  has 
dismissed  it  from  the  reign  of  Marcus  Aurelius. 


72 


THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  ISO  TO  235  a.  d. 


trade  in  letters  of  ransom.  Tertullian  mentions  some  who,  gentle 
by  nature  and  sceptics  in  religion,  repudiated  the  obligation  to  put 
innocent  beings  to  death,  and  determined  to  go  back  to  Rome 
“  without  a  spot  of  blood  on  their  fasces.”  1  Asper  declared  openly 
that  be  was  disinclined  to  prosecutions  of  that  kind.  When  be 
bad  to  judge  a  Christian,  be  only  feigned  to  put  him  to  the  tor¬ 
ture,  was  satisfied  with  the  slightest  word,  and  set  him  free 
without  compelling  him  to  offer  sacrifice.  Severus  furnished  them 
the  reply  which  permitted  him  to  discharge  them.  A  Christian 
is  brought  before  Pudens  with  a  letter  of  accusation  :  he  tears  up 
the  letter,  sets  the  captive  at  liberty,  and  declares  that  he  will 
not  receive  an  accusation  except  when  the  accuser  appears  person¬ 
ally  at  the  tribunal,  in  conformity  with  the  law.  Candidus  treated 
them  as  contentious  persons,  and  sent  them  back  to  their  towns 
with  these  words :  “  Go,  and  be  at  peace  with  your  fellow-citizens.” 
“Unhappy  men,”  said  another  to  them,  “if  you  are  resolved  to 
perish,  are  there  not  ropes  or  precipices  enough  for  you?”  and  he 
drives  them  from  his  tribunal.  The  governor  of  Syria  opens  to 
Peregrinus  the  doors  of  the  prison,  “  knowing  him  to  be  foolish 
enough  to  be  willing  to  die  through  vainglory.”  2  On  one  occa¬ 
sion,  in  Africa,  where  Severus  was  proconsular  legate,  the  populace 
clamored  for  the  death  of  several  Christians,  members  of  the 
senate  of  Carthage ;  but  he  resisted  the  outcries  of  the  infuriated 
mob.3  Later,  when  Emperor,  he  recalled  Antipater,  a  governor  of 

1  Ad  Scap.  4.  A  Christian  magistrate,  Studius,  possessing  the  jus  gladii,  asked  Saint 
Ambrose  if  it  was  contrary  to  the  faith  to  put  to  death  guilty  persons ;  the  saint  answered : 
Scio  plerosque  gentilium  gloriari  solitos,  quod  incruentam  de  administratione  provinciali  securim 
revexerint  ( Epist .  xxv.  sec.  3). 

2  Tertullian,  Ad  Scap.  5;  Lucian,  Peregr.  14.  This  is  the  person  who  burned  himself  at 
Olympia.  He  had  been  a  Christian,  and  was  at  that  time  regarded  as  a  martyr.  The 
account  of  Lucian  at  once  proves  the  fellowship  of  the  Christians  and  the  tolerance  of  the 
magistrates,  who  allowed  the  faithful  to  attend  their  imprisoned  brethren  day  and  night. 

3  Tertullian,  ibid.  4,  and  Fleury,  Hist,  eccl.x i.  32.  Tertullian  relates  (De  Cor.  Mil.  i.)  that 
on  one  occasion,  when  by  order  of  the  Emperor  largesses  were  distributed  in  camp  to  the  sol¬ 
diers,  who  according  to  custom  came  to  receive  them  wearing  a  laurel-wreath  on  their  heads, 
one  presented  himself  holding  his  wreath  in  his  hand.  At  first  his  comrades  pointed  at  him, 
then  ridiculed  him,  and  finally  grew  indignant.  The  clamor  reaches  the  tribune.  “  Why 
do  you  not  do  as  the  others  ?  ”  said  he  to  the  soldier.  “  I  cannot,”  he  answered  ;  “  I  am  a 
Christian.”  It  was  a  breach  of  discipline  and  a  refusal  of  obedience.  The  soldier  was  sent  to 
prison.  “He  there  awaits,”  says  Tertullian,  “Christ’s  largess”  (donativum  Christi).  Had 
the  persecution  been  violent,  this  heroic  bravado  would  have  been  immediately  punished  by 
a  military  execution.  Notice  that  the  Christians  of  Carthage  blamed  the  soldier,  but  that 
Tertullian  commends  him,  and  proposes  him  as  a  model. 


THE  PERSECUTION  UNDER  SEVERUS. 


73 


Bithynia  who  appeared  to  him  too  ready  to  employ  the  sword,1 
very  probably  against  the  Christians.  The  recall  of  a  governor 
was  an  extreme  and  unusual  measure  :  in  this  case  the  act  was 
the  more  significant,  as  Antipater  had  been  one  of  the  Emperor’s 
ministers.  Unfortunately,  Severus  could  not  see  or  hear  every¬ 
thing  ;  and  the  law,  defied  by  Christians  eager  for  martyrdom,  or 
too  scrupulously  obeyed  by  heartless  magistrates,  sent  to  execution 
men  whose  only  crime  was  that  they  worshipped  God  in  a  differ¬ 
ent  way  from  their  persecutors. 

It  is  a  Jewish  reply  to  the  maledictions  of  Christians :  “  You 
hate  us  for  having  condemned  Jesus  ?  What  would  become  of 
you  if  we  had  not  condemned  him?”  We  might  also  repeat  the 
words  of  Tertullian,  and  say :  “  Would  the  Christian  soil  have 
been  so  fruitful  if  the  blood  of  the  martvrs  had  not  watered  it?” 

V/ 

Two  verities  which  by  no  means  efface  the  stain  imprinted  by 
the  death  of  the  just,  or  rather,  which  show  the  sad  necessities 
imposed  on  man  by  evil  institutions.  In  Judaea,  public  authority 
and  religious  power  were  in  the  same  hands  2  Pagan  Rome  also 
suffered  from  their  union,  the  Middle  Ages  from  their  rivalry :  in 
one  case,  there  were  cruel  persecutions;  in  the  other,  sanguinary 
wars,  —  everywhere  and  always  death  sown  broadcast  in  the  name 
of  Him  who  made  life.  At  no  one  of  these  epochs  did  men 
know  liberty  of  conscience,  which  separates  Church  and  State 
without  arming  the  one  against  the  other.  Blessed  be  they  who 
have  given  it  unto  us ! 

1  .  .  .  8o£as  8e  iroipoTepov  xprjcrdcu  tco  £ icfrei  rpv  dp^pv  Tvapikvdrj  (Philost.,  Vit.  Soph.  ii.  24). 

2  According  to  Leviticus  (xxiv.  16),  the  blasphemer  is  stoned,  and  all  the  people  take  part 
in  his  execution.  This  is  harsher  than  the  crimen  majestatis  of  the  Romans. 

3  Roller,  pi.  xliii.  No.  3. 


CHAPTER  XCII. 


CARACALLA,  MACRINUS,  AND  ELAGABALUS  (211-222  A.D.). 

I.  —  Caracalla  (Feb.  2,  211  —  April  8,  217);  Right  of  Citizen¬ 
ship  ACCORDED  TO  ALL  THE  INHABITANTS  OF  THE  EMPIRE. 

SEVERUS  has  long  occupied  our  attention,  and  it  is  with  good 
reason  that  we  have  thus  minutely  studied  the  history  of 
his  reign.  We  shall  pass  rapidly  over  his  successors  until  we 


again  find  rulers  and  events  worthy  to  de¬ 
tain  us. 


The  father  of  Caracalla  had  done  everything 
to  maintain  fraternal  affection  between  his  sons. 
He  recommended  it  to  them  by  wise  counsels 
and  by  his  own  good  example ;  and  furthermore, 
he  urged  the  Senate  and  the  people  to  remind 
the  young  princes  repeatedly  of  the  necessity 


PHILADELPHIA.1 


PHILADELPHIA.*  , i  r  .  i 

the  young  princes  repeatedly  oi  tl 
of  it.  Each  year  there  was  celebrated  through¬ 
out  the  Empire  “  the  festival  of  brotherly  love,” 


Philadelphia ; 2  the  Senate  by  solemn  sacrifices  (( @r 
besought  the  gods  to  maintain  it,3  and  Severus 


caused  medals  to  be  struck,  representing  his  two  Wlp 


sons  about  to  clasp  hands,  with  these  words  as 


legend  :  Perpetua  concordia .4  It  is  said  that  dur-  concordia 

ing  his  last  illness  he  sent  to  them  the  discourse  augustorum.6 

which  Sallust  places  in  the  mouth  of  the  dying  Micipsa,  exhort- 

1  Coin  of  Perinthus  struck  under  Septimius  Severus,  with  the  legend,  <I>IAAAEA$EIA 
nEPINGIQN  NE0K0PQN,  around  the  urn  of  Games  placed  upon  a  table  and  bearing  the  word  : 
1IV0IA,  the  Pythian  games.  Large  bronze. 

2  Especially  in  the  Hellenic  East.  Eckhel,  vii.  231  ;  Mionnet,  vol.  iv.  p.  128,  No.  179. 
M.  Dumont  ( Ephebie  attique ,  i.  299)  thinks  that  the  <I>iXa§eA<£eta  were  constituted  for 
Marcus  Aurelius  and  Verus,  perhaps  even  earlier. 

3  Dion,  lxxvii.  1. 

4  Eckhel,  vii.  231.  A  bronze  of  Severus  has  also  for  a  legend:  C<m*m^^Augustoruin , 
another  of  Geta  bears  :  Concordias  aetcrnac  ;  this  was  the  official  marl^^^^^^L 


CARACALLA,  MACRINUS,  AND  ELAGABALUS,  211  TO  222  a.  d..  75 


ing  his  sons  to  union.  The  truth  is  that  the  Emperor  himself, 
and  all  the  world  with  him,  were  aware  of  the  mistake  he  had 
committed  in  styling  them  both  Augusti ,  when  one  had  not  over 


CARACALLA  IN  YOUTH.  1 


the  other  the  ascendency  of  age  and  authority  that  Marcus  Aurelius 
had  had  over  Verus.  These  equal  rights,  granted2  to  young  men 
hardly  past  the  age  of  boyhood,3  promised  the  Empire  a  tragedy ;  it 

1  Bust  of  the  Campana  Museum,  found  in  the  ruins  of  the  Circus  Maximus  (Henry 
d’Escamps,  op.  cit.  No.  105). 

2  Except  that  of  Pontifex  Maximus,  which  was  not  divisible.  Moreover,  from  the  first, 
Caracalla  conducted  himself  as  if  he  alone  had  the  authority  (Dion,  lxxvii.  1),  and  Geta  had 
sc^Mily  more  than  the  imperial  honors. 

I  Caracalla,  born  April  4,  188,  had  not  yet  completed  his  twenty-third  year ;  Geta,  born 
127,  189,  was  only  twenty-two.  The  name  Caracalla,  or  Caracallus  (Dion,  lxxviii.  3), 
to  him  from  a  Gallic  garment,  the  caracalla,  a  sort  of  tunic  with  a  hood,  distributed  by 
among  the  common  people  of  Rome  and  his  own  soldiers,  and  later  adopted  by  the 


76  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


occurred  after  a  few  months.  Herodian  shows  them  at  Rome 

dividing  between  them  the  soldiers  and  the  palace ;  making  of  the 

latter  two  strongholds  in  which  they  fortify  themselves  against 

each  other,  and  finally 
proposing  to  divide  the 
Empire  :  Asia  to  Geta, 
the  rest  to  his  brother, 
— each  with  half  of  the 
Senate,  of  the  armies, 
and  of  the  fleets.  “  But 
will  you  also  divide 

your  mother?”  Julia 
said  to  them.  Dion 

makes  no  mention  of 
such  a  project,  the  an¬ 
nouncement  of  which 

would  have  produced 
in  Rome,  where  our 
historian  was  at  that 
time,  a  profound  sensa¬ 
tion.  The  idea  of  es¬ 
tablishing  two  Roman 
empires  could  not  have 
occurred  to  the  states¬ 
men  of  that  time  ;  but 
it  is  curious  that  it 
geta,  clothed  in  the  paludamentum.1  should  have  originated 

in  the  head  of  a  rhet¬ 
orician,  who,  not  finding  the  history  of  the  family  of  Severus 
sensational  enough  utilized  all  the  processes  of  the  schools  to 
render  it  suitably  dramatic. 

Caracalla  made  use  of  more  simple  means.  Enticing  his  brother 


hermits  of  the  Thebaid  as  their  costume.  His  real  name  was  Bassianus.  Severus  substi¬ 
tuted  for  it  that  of  Marcus  Aurelius  Antoninus,  which  the  coins  and  the  inscriptions  of  monu¬ 
ments  give  him.  He  was  appointed  Caesar  in  196,  pontiff  in  197,  Augustus  in  198,  consul,  at 
sixteen,  in  202.  In  the  inscriptions  his  name  is  usually  written  Aurellius.  Cf.  C.  I.  L.  i  ' 
1,114. 

1  Museum  of  the  Louvre.  Bust  of  corallite  marble  found  at  Gabii  in  a  perfect  state 
preservation.  The  busts  of  Geta  are  very  rare,  Caracalla  having  commanded  that  the  statu 
of  his  brother  should  be  destroyed  ( Monum .  Gab.  No.  4,  and  Clarac,  No.  97). 


CARACALLA,  MACRINUS,  AND  ELAGABALUS,  211  TO  222  a.  d.  77 


into  Julia’s  apartment,  under  pretext  of  a  reconciliation,  he  slew 
him  in  the  arms  of  their  mother,  who  was  covered  with  blood  and 
herself  wounded ;  he  then  hastened  to  the  camp  of  the  praetorians 
to  secure  an  asylum  by  purchasing  that  venal  band.  He  told 
them  he  had  just  escaped  death  through  the  protection  of  his  gods, 
and  a  large  sum  of  money  paid  them  the  price  of  blood. 

Since  it  was  the  custom  to  represent  the  victim  as  a  would-be 
assassin,  Geta  was  declared  a  public  enemy,  and  his  name  was 
effaced  from  all  the  monuments,  even 
from  the  Arch  of  Septimius  Severus,  on 
which  traces  of  it  are  yet  to  be  seen.  It 
was  a  crime  to  mention  his  name,  even 
in  the  comedies,  —  where  it  had  been  cus¬ 
tomary  that  it  should  be  borne  by  a  slave, 

made  to  an  old  servant  so  named,  the  dead 
man  himself  indeed  escaped  Caracalla’s 

r  THE  ARCH  OF  SEPTIMIUS 

Wrath,  but  his  fortune  was  confiscated.  severus. 

Dion  tells  of  the  terrible  dreams  in  which  Geta  appeared  to  the 
fratricide,  threatening,  with  sword  in  hand ;  also  in  which  he 
hears  his  father  cry  out  to  him :  “  I  will  kill  thee  as  thou  hast 
killed  thy  brother !  ”  But  as  Caracalla  consecrated  in  the  temple 
of  Serapis  the  sword  which  had  served  him  for  the  accomplish¬ 
ment  of  the  crime,  we  have  reason  to  think  that  he  carried  the 
remembrance  of  it  very  lightly  (February,  212).1 

To  the  Senate,  Caracalla  justified  himself  by  citing  the  example 
of  Romulus,  and  no  one  took  the  pains  to  contradict  the  old  legend. 
At  the  end  of  his  speech  the  young  Emperor  declared  that  he 
recalled  all  those  in  exile.  It  was  a  promise  of  clemency ;  but  on 
the  morrow  the  friends  of  Geta  perished  in  great  numbers.2  The 
soldiers  were  let  loose ;  in  slaying  they  found  pleasure  and  profit, 
for  they  pillaged  the  houses  of  the  condemned  and  even  of  other 


—  and  even  in  wills.  If  a  legacy  had  been 


1  The  apotheosis  of  Geta,  which  Caracalla  is  said  to  have  had  pronounced,  has  been  imag¬ 
ined  to  furnish  occasion  for  a  play  upon  words :  sit  divus  non  sit  vivus  (Spart.,  Geta,  2).  No 
document  taken  from  inscriptions  or  coins  justifies  the  assertion  of  Spartianus.  Cf.  Eckhel, 
vii.  234.  The  interpretation  given  by  Mommsen  of  inscription  No.  1,464  of  the  C.  I.  L.  vol. 
iii.  does  not  seem  well  founded. 

2  Dion  (Ixxvii.  4)  goes  so  far  as  to  speak  of  twenty  thousand  Caesarians  and  soldiers, 
partisans  of  Geta,  murdered  in  the  palace. 


78  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


persons.  From  the  house  of  Cilo,  formerly  prefect  of  Rome,  whom 
Caracalla  styled  his  father,  and  whom  he  saved  from  their  hands, 
they  carried  off  gold,  silver-plate,  clothing,  and  furniture.  Availing 
themselves  of  the  terror  which  they  inspired,  they  took  ransoms, 
and  exacted  payment  for  sparing  the  innocent.  They  killed  in 
behalf  of  the  Emperor,  and  also  on  their  own  account.  It  appears 
that  Caracalla  abandoned  to  them  the  praetorian  prefects.  One  of 
these  was  Papinian,  whom  an  ancient  writer  calls  “  the  asylum  of 
law  and  the  treasury  of  juristic  wisdom,”  1  and  whom  Cujas  regarded 

as  “  the  greatest  jurisconsult  who  has  ever  been 
or  who  ever  will  be.”2  It  is  said  that  Papinian 
had  enraged  the  Emperor  by  refusing  to  dishonor 
himself,  as  Seneca  had  done  under  Nero,  by  an 
apology  for  the  murder.  If  the  story  is  true,  —  and 
there  are  reasons  for  admitting  it,  —  it  was  a  noble 
bronze  of  death  ;  the  great  jurisconsult  was  himself  a  martyr 

CARACALLA.** 

to  duty.4  His  son  and  the  son  of  Pertinax,  a  grand¬ 
son  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  a  daughter  of  that  Emperor,  who  had  dared 
to  lament  the  death  of  Geta,  a  nephew  of  Severus,  a  Thrasea,  and 
many  others  met  the  same  fate.  Dion  made  the  list  of  the  sena¬ 
torial  victims ;  it  has  been  lost,  but  we  know  that  it  was  long : 
the  first  crime  necessarily  involved  many  others. 

With  this  Emperor,  of  base  and  wicked  nature,  “  who,”  says, 
a  contemporary,  “never  loved  any  one,”  5  the  reign  of  Commodus 
was  repeated  :  the  same  orgies  at  the  palace,  the  same  massacres 
of  men  and  wild  beasts  at  the  circus,  the  same  insults  to  the  Senate, 
the  same  exactions  under  myriad  forms.  It  is  probable  that, 
like  so  many  other  Emperors  who  came  into  power  young,  he  had 
intermittent  attacks  of  insanity. 

We  know,  in  fact,  that  Caracalla  was  diseased  in  mind  as  well 


1  Spart.,  Sev.  21. 

2  In  prooemio  ad  Quaest.  Papin. 

3  Aesculapius  and  Telesphorus,  upon  a  medium  bronze  of  Caracalla.  (PM.  TR.  P. 

xvm  cos.  mi  pp.  sc.) 

4  Spartianus  (Car.  8)  and  Aur.  Victor  ( De  Caes.  xx.)  reject  this  story,  saying  that  it  was 
not  among  the  duties  of  the  praetorian  prefect  to  compose  a  discourse  for  the  Emperor. 
Doubtless ;  but  Papinian  was  a  relative  of  the  imperial  family,  and,  besides,  enjoyed  a  high 
reputation :  the  apology  which  Caracalla  demanded  of  him  would  certainly  have  produced  a 
great  effect  in  the  interest  of  the  murderer. 

5  Dion,  Ixxvii.  11. 


CARACALLA,  MACRINUS,  AND  ELAGABALUS,  211  TO  222  a.  d 


79 


as  in  body ;  the  many  coins  of  his  winch  are  in  existence,  with 
the  image  of  “  the  healing  gods,  ”  attest  his  efforts  to  rid  himself 
of  some  secret  malady.1  He  loved  to  cause  fear,  and  studied 
to  give  himself  a  fierce  air,  which  his  busts  have  preserved : 
men  flattered  him  most  when  they  trembled  before  him.  A  man 
of  consular  rank  having  said  to  him  that  he  seemed  at  all  times 


CARACALLA.2 


to  be  in  a  rage,  he  took  it  for  a  compliment,  and  sent  him  a 
million  sesterces.3  In  the  Senate  he  was  always  praising  Sylla, 
so  harsh  towards  the  Conscript  Fathers  of  the  Republic,  or  ex¬ 
tolling  his  own  compatriot  Hannibal,  so  terrible  to  Rome.4  And 
he  did  indeed  give  them  cause  to  tremble,  for  he  organized  a 

1  Dion,  lxxvii.  15  ;  Eckhel,  vii.  212  et  seq. 

2  Bust  of  the  Museum  of  Naples. 


3  Dion,  lxxvii.  1 1 

4  Herod,  iv.  14. 


80  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  ISO  TO  235  a.  d. 

vast  system  of  espionage,  by  means  of  tlie  soldiers  wlio  were 
employed  in  keeping  order  in  the  city.  Through  fear  lest  some 
officer  by  inopportune  severity  might  discourage  their  zeal,  he 
reserved  to  himself  the  cognizance  of  complaints  preferred  against 
them,  and  a  decision  as  to  the  disciplinary  penalties  which  they 
might  incur.  He  protected  these  men  of  whom  he  had  made 
eyes  to  see  and  ears  to  hear,  even  when  there  was  nothing  either 
to  be  seen  or  to  be  heard.1  Accordingly,  every  one  was  at  the 
mercy  of  these  agents  of  low  degree,  who  were  assured  of  impu¬ 
nity,  and  whose  denunciation  cost  fortune  or  life. 

When  he  did  not  take  life  or  property  by  sentence  of  death 

or  of  confiscation,  he  ruined  by  capricious 
exactions.  “  He  placed  us  under  contribu¬ 
tion,”  relates  Dion,  “  for  the  provisions 
which  he  distributed  to  the  soldiers  or  sold 
to  them  like  a  tavern-keeper.  When  he  left 
Rome  we  had  to  prepare  for  him,  at  our 
expense,  sumptuous  lodgings  along  the  route, 
even  for  the  shortest  journeys,  and  some¬ 
times  in  places  where  he  was  not  to  pass. 
In  the  cities  where  it  was  supposed  he  would  remain  some  time, 
it  was  circuses  and  amphitheatres  that  we  were  obliged  to 
oonstruct.  In  all  this  he  had  but  one  purpose,  —  to  ruin  us ; 
he  often  repeated :  ‘No  one  but  myself  ought  to  have  money, 
so  that  I  may  give  it  all  to  my  soldiers.’  He  was  accustomed  to 
notify  us  that  at  daybreak  he  would  administer  justice  or  attend 
to  public  affairs,  and  then  keep  us  waiting  until  after  mid-day, 
sometimes  even  until  night,  without  so  much  as  receiving  us 
under  his  vestibule.”  And  while  the  illustrissimi  awaited  a  look, 
a  word  from  the  master,  he  was  driving  in  chariot-races,  fighting 
with  gladiators,  drinking  to  excess,  or  mixing  wine  in  bowls  to 
send  out  to  the  soldiers  of  his  guard  in  full  cups,  which  the 
senators,  parched  with  thirst  and  the  heat  of  the  sun,  could  not 
detain  on  their  passage.3  “  Sometimes,”  adds  Dion,  “  he  adminis¬ 
tered  justice;”  and  Philostratus  reproduces  one  of  these  audiences, 

1  Dion,  l.xxvii.  17. 

2  The  Circus  Maximus,  on  a  large  bronze  of  Caracalla.  (SPQR.  OPTIMO  PltlNCIPI 

SC.) 

3  Id.,  ibid. 


LARGE  BRONZE  OF 
CARACALLA.2 


CAKACALLA,  MACRINUS,  AND  ELAGABALUS,  211  TO  222  a.  i>.  81 


which  assuredly  lacks  gravity,  but  at  which  the  Emperor,  this 
time,  at  least,  did  not  lack  good  sense.1 

This  profligate  wished,  like  Doinitian,  to  assume  the  character 
of  an  austere  reformer.  He  punished  adultery  with  death,  although 
the  law  did  not  exact  this  severity ;  and  he  caused  four  vestal 
virgins  to  be  buried  alive,  asserting  that  they  had  violated  their 
vow.  One  of  them,  whom  he  himself  had  attempted  to  seduce, 
cried  out  on  her  way  to  punishment :  “  Caesar  well  knows  that 
I  am  still  a  virgin.”  2 * 

This  time  tyranny  was  not  of  profit  to  the  provinces ;  they 
had  to  suffer  exactions  of  every  kind,  —  in  the  form  of  “  volun¬ 
tary  gifts,”  new  taxes,  old  ones  augmented,  perhaps  the  coinage 
of  base  money  to  pay  the  Emperor’s  debts."  Caracalla  doubled 
the  fees  for  manumissions,  legacies,  and  donations,  abolished  in¬ 
heritances  ctb  intestato  and  the  immunities  granted  in  these  cases 
to  near  relatives  of  the  deceased ;  and  finally,  he  declared  all  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Empire  citizens.4  Some  have  seen  in  this 
rescript  a  great  measure  of  equity,  or  at  any  rate  the  completion 
of  the  revolution  begun  by  Caesar ;  but  in  reality  it  was  a  fiscal 
expedient.  The  peregrini  continued  to  pay  their  former  contribu¬ 
tions,  and  they  were  henceforth  subject  to  the  tributes  which  the 
cives  had  been  accustomed  to  pay  in  the  place  of  the  land-tax  and 


1  Vitae  Soph.  ii.  30.  The  Sophist  Philiscus  claimed,  by  virtue  of  being  a  professor  in  the 
University  of  Athens,  vacationem  a  publicis  muneribus.  Caracalla  terminated  the  discussion  by 
saying,  as  was  just :  Nolim  ob  breves  atque  wiseras  oratiunculas  civitates  privare  munera 
praestituris,  tcov  XeiTovpyqaovrav.  But  another  day  he  did  the  contrary,  granting  the  vacatio 
munerum  to  Philostratus  of  Lemnos  for  a  declamation.  (Ibid.) 

2  Dion,  who  reports  these  words,  yet  supposes  her  guilty  (Ixxvii.  16). 

8  There  certainly  were  great  monetary  changes  under  Caracalla.  We  know  that  he  reduced 
the  aureus  from  -fe  to  of  the  pound  of  gold,  making  it  only  equal  in  intrinsic  value  to  22.56 
silver  denarii,  instead  of  to  25.08,  as  hitherto,  and  that  he  first  issued  in  enormous  quantities 
the  argenteus  Antoninianus ,  —  debased  coin;  that  is,  copper  with  a  mixture  of  silver.  The 
Antoninianus,  which  with  its  normal  weight  of  silver  should  have  been  worth  more  than  the 
denarius,  —  about  21 J  cts.,  —  soon  came  to  be  only  silvered  copper.  This  adulteration  doubt¬ 
less  began  under  Caracalla,  for  Dion  (ibid.  14)  formally  accuses  this  Emperor  of  having  issued 
coins  of  silvered  lead  and  gilded  copper ;  several  medals,  which  give  to  Alexander  Severus  the 
title  of  restitutor  monetae ,  indicate  a  reform  which  justifies  the  statement  of  Dion.  There  is, 
besides,  in  the  collection  of  Vienna,  a  jdated  aureus  of  Caracalla  (Eckhel,  i.  115).  The  obli¬ 
gation  to  pay  the  taxes  in  gold  also  dates  probably  from  this  time ;  at  least,  it  appears 
established  under  Elagabalus  (Hist.  Aug.,  Alex.  38).  The  ^  upon  enfranchisement  had 
moreover  always  been  paid  in  this  manner,  aurum  vicesimarium  (Livy,  xxvii.  10). 

4  In  orbe  Romano  qui  sunt,  ex  const,  imp.  Antonin,  cives  romani  effecti  sunt  (Ulpian,  in  the 
Digest,  i.  5,  17;  Novell.  Justin,  lxxviii.  5). 


VOL.  VII. 


6 


82  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


the  capitation.1  This  reform,  which  extended  to  all  the  provinces 
the  benefit  of  the  Roman  laws,  and  consequently  the  right  of 
appeal  to  the  Emperor,  did  not  affect  the  former  distinctions,  —  as 
free  and  federated  cities,  Latin  colonies,  and  those  with  the  jus 
Italicum,  etc.,  which  subsisted  long  after.  Caracalla  himself  made 
new  ones,  granting  the  jus  Italicum  to  the  inhabitants  of  Antioch 
and  Emesa.2  One  of  these  long-existing  distinctions  was  however 
effaced :  he  admitted  Alexandrians  into  the  Roman  Senate,  which 
had  up  to  that  time  been  closed  against  them. 

Neither  was  the  status  of  the  individual  modified  by  this 
measure.  The  condition  of  the  slave,  the  colonist,  the  freedman, 
the  foreigner  established  in  the  Empire  or  enrolled  in  its  auxiliary 
troops,  remained  the  same ; 3  there  were  merely  additional  imposts 
and  a  new  class  of  peregrini.  But  a  long  list  of  citizens  gained 
an  advantage  by  the  decree  of  Caracalla.  The  custom  of  gratuitous 
distributions  was  extended  to  all  the  cities  possessing  the  right  of 
Roman  citizenship.  They  made  it  a  point  of  honor  to  imitate  the 
charitable  institution  of  the  metropolis,  and  we  find,  even  in 
Palmyra,  which  became  an  Italic  colony,  tesserae  for  the  distribu¬ 
tion  of  grain.4  When  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  Empire  were  citizens, 
the  poor  of  the  provincial  cities  participated  also  in  the  benefit  of 
the  public  aid.  Saint  Augustine  sees  only  this  result  of  the  edict, 
and  it  seems  to  him  a  very  happy  one.  “This  was,”  says  he,  “an 
excellent  and  very  humane  measure,  for  it  enabled  the  common 
people,  destitute  of  land,  to  obtain  supplies  furnished  by  the  com¬ 
mon  fund.” 5  When  Maximin  took  possession  of  the  municipal 

1  That  is  to  say,  one  twentieth  of  the  manumissions,  legacies,  and  donations  (Dion,  lxxix.  9, 
and  this  work,  Yol.  IV.  pp.  101  and  159).  Nor  had  the  provincials  been  subjected  to  the 
provisions  of  the  laws  concerning  inheritances ;  he  took  away  the  cuduca  from  the  public 
treasury,  aerarium,  to  assign  them  to  the  fiscus,  or  treasury  of  the  Emperor :  O'^nia  caduca 
Jisco  vindicantur,  servato  jure  antiquo  liberis  et  parentibus  (Ulpian,  Reg.  xvii.  2). 

2  Digest ,  1.  15. 

3  Diocletian  gave  later,  in  298,  the  right  of  citizenship  to  sons  of  veterans  born  of  foreign 
mothers,  peregrini  juris  feminas  ( C.  I.  L.  iii.  900).  The  dedititii,  the  Junian  Latins,  those 
whom  a  legal  sentence  deprived  of  the  right  of  citizenship,  foreigners  established,  willingly  or 
by  compulsion,  in  the  Empire  or  serving  in  its  troops,  perhaps  the  inhabitants  of  countries 
united  to  the  Empire  after  Caracalla,  —  these  formed  a  new  class  of  peregrini,  placed  between 
the  cives  and  the  barbari.  Cf.  Accarias,  Precis  de  droit  romain,  i.  94. 

4  See  Vol.  VI.  pp.  114  and  519  the  proof  of  the  extension  of  this  custom. 

5  .  .  .  Gratissime  atque  liumanissime  factum  est,  ut  .  .  .  plebs  ilia ,  quae  suos  agros  non 
haberet ,  de  publico  viverct  (De  Civil.  Dei,  v.  17). 


CARACALLA,  MACKINUS,  AND  ELAGABALUS,  211  TO  222  a.  d.  83 


funds,  it  is  noticed  that  he  seized  even  the  money  that  served  to 
pay  for  the  distributions  of  grain.1 

Some  of  the  jurisconsults  who  wrote,  “  Food  must  be  given  to 
the  poor,”  doubtless  foresaw  that  the  decree  would  have  this  merit ; 
but  not  so  Caracalla,  —  though,  like  his  father,  he  was  very  libera] 
in  the  distribution  of  provisions.  The  determining  motive  for  him 
was  the  fiscal  reason ;  for  his  need  of  money  was  extreme.  The 
immense  treasure  left  by  Severus  had  been  quickly  dissipated. 
a  There  is  nothing  more  left,”  the  prudent  Julia  said  to  him  as 
she  vainly  attempted  to  control  these  prodigalities ;  u  fairly  or  unfairly, 
all  our  revenues  are  exhausted.” 

“  Courage,  mother  ;  while  we 
have  this,  money  shall  not  be 
lacking  :  ”  as  he  spoke,  he  laid 
his  hand  upon  his  sword. 

His  own  was  not  to  be 
greatly  feared,  but  he  had  the 
swords  of  his  soldiers.  Severus 
had  held  the  troops  in  restraint ; 
his  son  gave  them  loose  rein, 
acting  upon  the  maxim  at¬ 
tributed  to  his  father  :  “  Make 
the  soldiers  content,  and  laugh 
at  the  rest.”  His  innumerable 
victims  had  left  behind  them 
relatives  and  friends  who  might 
avenge  them.  All,  therefore, 
were  enemies,  except  those  to 
whom  he  said  :  “  It  is  for  you 
that  I  reign ;  my  treasures  are 

yours.”  And  they  might  well  believe  it,  seeing  themselves  daily 
gorged  with  gold.  Their  yearly  pay  was  increased  seventy  millions 
of  drachmas,3  which  the  ordinary  revenues  of  the  state  were  no 
longer  sufficient  to  pay.  He  adopted  another  measure,  disastrous 


CAMEO  OF  CARACALLA.'2 


1  Herod.,  vii.  3. 

2  Caracalla  crowned  with  laurel  and  wearing  the  aegis.  Cameo  No.  251  of  the  Cabinet 

O  O 

de  France.  Sardonyx  of  three  layers,  48  mill,  by  38.  Portrait  bearing  very  slight  resemblance. 

3  Dion,  lxxviii.  36  ;  cf.  lxxvii.  24,  where  the  figures  for  the  augmentation  of  the  a6\a  Trjs 
(TTpzTflas  are  probably  inverted. 


84  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 

i 

to  discipline.  The  legions  had  been  accustomed  to  live  in  camp 
the  whole  year  under  tents ;  he  allowed  them  to  take  up  their 
winter  quarters  in  the  neighboring  cities,1  which  they  treated  as 
conquered  territory,  ruining  their  hosts,  and  themselves  losing,  in 
a  life  of  debauchery,  what  military  virtues  remained  to  them. 

There  is  one  thing  which  the  mere  mercenary,  the  soldier  without 
a  country,  such  as  the  Roman  soldier  had  now  become,  loves  as 
well  as  he  loves  gold  ;  namely,  war,  —  that  intoxicating 
game  of  life  and  death  in  which  he  always  hopes  to 
win :  the  license  of  an  army  on  a  campaign  delights 
him,  and  the  glutting  of  brutal  passions,  disguised  by  a 
gold  imldal.  gi10w  0f  gl0ry.  Caracalla  had  promised  to  lead  his  sol¬ 
diers  to  this  chase  of  men  and  booty.  “  I  wish  to  die  in  war,”  he 
said ;  “  it  is  a  noble  death ;  ” 3  and  he  had  continually  on  his  lips 
a  name  which  the  Greeks  had  long  placed  above  the  most  famous 
names  of  Rome,  —  that  of  Alexander.  In  the  time  of 
Polybius,  his  compatriots  were  wont  to  avenge  themselves 
for  their  recent  defeat  by  saying  to  the  Romans :  “  It 
is  to  Fortune  that  you  owe  your  successes ;  Alexander  silver 

,  .  „  .  MEDAL.4 

owed  his  to  his  genius.  Later,  they  again  repeated : 

“  The  Parthians,  whom  you  have  been  unable  to  vanquish,  were  but 

the  least  of  the  peoples  subjugated  by  him.” 
Accordingly  the  remembrance  of  the  hero  of  the 
Hellenic  race  had  haunted  the  minds  of  Caesar 
and  of  Trajan.  These  great  captains  desired  to 
follow  in  the  track  of  Alexander,  to  establish 
their  legionaries  in  the  cities  built  by  his  veterans 
on  the  banks  of  the  Oxus,  feeling  that  they 
should  make  the  Roman  Empire  complete  only 
when  they  gave  it  for  its  Eastern  limit  the  same 

MEDAL  OF  ALEXANDER.5  .  .  .  .  „  .  ,  ,  .  ,  .  , 

which  the  empire  ot  Alexander  had  had.  Hut 
as  the  old  spirit  of  Rome  gave  way  before  the  advancing  encroach¬ 
ments  of  Hellenism,  the  great  Macedonian  ceased  to  be  a  rival  and 
became  a  fellow-citizen,  whose  fame  now  formed  part  of  the 

1  Ixxviii.  3.  2  Alexander  the  Great ;  talismanic  gold  medal. 

3  Dion,  lxxvii.  3. 

4  Talismanic  silver  medal  with  the  name  of  Alexander,  AAE3ANAP0Y. 

6  Medal  of  Alexander  on  a  sword-belt,  and  serving  for  a  talisman  (Die.  des  Antiq.  fig. 
314). 


FN 


TREASURE  FROM  TARSIS 

(■old  Coins  of  Alexander,  Phillipp  II.,  and  Hercules,  engraved  during  the  reign  of  Alexander  Severus 

1  I 

I  / 

( 

r  \ 


rt»*  Ubr«ry 

af  tha 

Uflfvsrtlty  of  lllltwft 


CARACALLA,  MACRINUS,  AND  ELAGABALUS,  211  TO  222  a.  d.  85 


national  fame.  He  was  raised  to  a  place  of  honor,  he  came  to 
be  a  god ;  and  the  formidable  soldier  was  transformed  into  a  be¬ 
neficent  genius  who  warded  off  disastrous  influences,  aAe^t/ca/cos. 
Medals  of  gold  and  silver,  stamped  with  his  effigy,  served  as  talis¬ 
mans.  “They  protect,”  says  a  writer  of  the  Augustan  History ,l 
“  in  every  act  of  their  lives,  the  men  who  wear  them.”  Severus 
assumed  the  name  of  Alexander.  Caracalla  did  more,  —  he  declared 
that  the  soul  of  the  hero  had  passed  into  his  own ; 2  and  to  prove 
this,  he  trained  war-elephants  and  organized  a  Macedonian  phalanx.3 
The  latter  creation,  however,  was  less  a  passion  for  imitation  than 
the  completion  of  a  reform  begun  long  before.  Instead  of  regular 
armies  to  be  encountered  with  scientific  tactics,  the  Romans  now 
had  to  repulse  the  impetuous  attacks  of  unorganized  Barbarians 
and  the  fleet  horsemen  of  Parthia.  Before  the  elephants  and  the 
phalanx  of  Pyrrhus4  the  Romans  had  abandoned  their  old  order 
of  battle  in  close  ranks  and  dense  columns.  Their  adversaries  chang¬ 
ing,  they  resumed  it,  so  that  individual  impetuosity  might  dash 
against  an  impenetrable  mass.  This  reform  had  begun  during  the 
wars  in  Britain;5  later,  Arrian6  clearly  lays  down  the  principle  of' 
the  formation  in  phalanx  of  eight  men  deep  without  interval,  with 
a  ninth  line  of  archers,  the  cavalry  and  military  engines  being  in 
the  rear  and  on  the  wings,  which  was  hereafter  the  order  of 
battle  of  the  legions. 

Near  the  close  of  the  year  212,  Caracalla  went  to  Gaul.  He 
caused  the  governor  of  Gallia  Narbonensis  to  be  put  to  death,  and 
disturbed  these  provinces  by  violating  some  municipal  rights,  —  per¬ 
haps  in  case  of  those  cities  which  refused  the  onerous  gift  of  the 
jus  civitatis.  A  serious  malady,  and  doubtless  also  a  desire  to  inspect 
the  defences  of  the  Rhine,  detained  him  north  of  the  Alps.  In 
February,  213,  he  was  again  in  his  capital,7  which  he  now  saw 
for  the  last  time. 

He  had  promised  his  soldiers  expeditions,  and  the  Empire  had 

1  Tyr.  trig.  14.  2  Dion,  lxxvii.  7-8.  He  was  called  (piKaXe^ardporaros . 

3  [Neither  of  which  ever  won  a  victory  for  Alexander.  —  Ed.] 

4  This  change  was  before  the  time  of  Pyrrhus;  but  the  new  organization  was  consolidated 

and  improved  in  this  war.  See,  in  our  first  volume  (pp.  369  et  seq .),  the  reforms  of  Camillus 
and  the  creation  of  the  legion. 

5  Under  Paulinus  and  Agricola  (Tac.,  Agric.  35;  Dion.  Ixii.  8).  6  Tn  136,  Aden,  15. 

7  We  have  in  the  Code  (vii.  16,  2)  a  rescript  dated  Rome,  February  5,  213  ;  but  there 

may  be  an  error  in  this  date.  Cf.  Eckhel,  vii.  210,  211. 


86  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


need  to  strike  some  blow  in  the  direction  of  the  Danube  and  the 
Rhine,  where  powerful  confederations  were  forming,  which  we 
shall  mention  later.  One  of  these,  that  of  the  Alemanni,  —  who 
now  appear  for  the  first  time  in  history,  —  surprised  an  entrance 
through  the  fortified  line  which  covered  the  agri  Decumates,  and  a 
large  body  of  cavalry  carried  fire  and  sword  into  this  outpost  of 
Italy  and  Gaul.  Before  the  end  of  213 1  Caracalla  led  his  troops 
against  the  invaders  and  vanquished  them  on  the  banks  of  the 
Mein,  where  their  women  repeated  the  acts  of  heroic  ferocity  which 
Plutarch  attributes  to  the  women  of  the  Cimbri,  —  unless  the  story 
of  Xiphilinus  be  a  classical  reminiscence.  Other  successes  in  the 
direction  of  Rhaetia  are  also  mentioned.  The  Osrhoenian  archers, 
who  formed  part  of  the  Roman  army,  had  the  honor  of  the  cam¬ 
paign, —  which  leads  us  to  suppose  that  the  enemy  were  neither 
very  numerous  nor  very  formidable.2  However,  the  report  of  these 
victories  resounded  afar ;  peoples  established  at  the  mouths  of  the 

Elbe  and  on  the  North  Sea  sent  deputa¬ 
tions  to  the  Emperor  to  request  his  friend¬ 
ship  and  also  subsidies,  which  he  granted 
them.3  The  Alemanni,  rendered  prudent 
by  their  defeat,  remained  quiet  for  twenty 
years.  Dion  accuses  the  Emperor  of  having 
thus  purchased  peace  from  the  Germans.  We  have  repeatedly 
explained  that  it  was  good  policy  to  win  over  the  Barbarian  chiefs 
by  presents,  in  order  to  avoid  sudden  irruptions  and  the  useless 
wars  which  they  entailed.  There  is  then  no  occasion  to  blame 
Caracalla  for  having  pursued  this  course,  —  at  least  if  he  did  not 
purchase  peace  too  dearly.5  It  enabled  him  to  levy  among  the 


CARACALLA  GERMANICUS.4 


1  At  least  we  possess  coins  of  this  year  on  which  he  bears  the  name  of  Germanicus  (see 
above,  and  Eckhel,  vii.  210,  222;  cf.  Or.-IIenzen,  No.  5,507). 

2  These  archers,  unknown  to  the  ancient  legions,  assumed  daily  more  importance  in  the 
army,  where  a  certain  number  of  soldiers  of  this  kind  were  necessary  ;  for  General  dc  Reffye 
has  demonstrated  that  an  arrow  still  has  good  effect  at  130  and  140  yards.  It  was  not  a 
weapon  with  which  a  battle  might  be  won,  but  it  was  a  missile  very  useful  at  certain  moments 
of  the  engagement. 

3  Dion,  lxxvii.  14. 

4  ANTONINVS  PIVS  AVG.  GERM.,  around  the  head  of  Caracalla  wreathed  with 
laurel.  On  the  reverse,  Serapis  standing,  and  the  legend:  P.  M.  TR.  P.  XXI  COS.  IIII  PP. 
Coin  of  silver;  Cohen,  No.  143.  For  the  name  of  Antoninus  assumed  by  Caracalla,  see  above, 
p.  75,  note  3. 

5  Macrinus  —  his  murderer,  it  is  true  —  accuses  him  of  having  dispensed  as  much  in  pen¬ 
sions  to  the  Barbarians  as  for  the  pay  of  the  army;  but  this  is  absurd  (Dion,  Ixxviii.  17). 


CABACALLA,  MAC  BIN  US,  AND  ELAGABALUS,  211  TO  222  a.  d.  87 

Alemanni  auxiliary  corps,  one  of  which  formed  his  body-guard. 
We  should  even  be  reduced  to  praising  his  conduct  towards  the 
army,  if  we  did  not  see  in  it  an  unworthy  effort  to  gain  popularity. 
He  shared  all  the  fatigues  of  his  soldiers.  If  there  were  a  ditch 
to  be  dug,  a  bridge  to  be  built,  any  specially  laborious  work  to  be 
done,  he  was  the  first  to  set  the  example.  He  had  the  commonest 
food  served  up  for  him,  and  ate  and  drank  from  wooden  bowls  ; 
he  shared  the  coarse  bread  of  the  troops ;  frequently  he  ground  his 
own  wheat,  made  the  loaf  of  bread,  and  placed  it  in  the  oven. 
He  dressed  like  the  poorest  soldiers  :  hence  they  called  him  their 
comrade ;  and  he  was  extremely  proud  of  this.  He  rarely  was 
carried  in  a  litter,  or  rode  on  horseback ;  he  marched  fully  armed, 
and  sometimes  carrying 
the  ensigns  laden  with 
ornaments  of  gold,  which 
were  a  heavy  burden  even 
to  the  most  robust  centu¬ 
rions.1  Hadrian,  march¬ 
ing  with  bare  head  in 
front  of  his  legions,  is 
still  the  commanding  offi¬ 
cer  ;  Caracalla,  preparing 
his  own  food,  is  merely 
grotesque,  and  destroys 
discipline  by  losing  the 
respect  of  his  soldiers. 

Historians  of  the  time 
further  speak  of  Barba¬ 
rians  treacherously  mas¬ 
sacred,  of  a  king  of  the  Quadi  whom  the  Emperor  caused  to  be 
put  to  death,  of  a  war  which,  following  the  wish  of  Tacitus,  he 
kindled  between  the  Vandals  and  the  Marcomanni,  of  successes 
against  the  Sarmatians  in  Dacia,  and  against  the  Goths,  whose 
name  now  appears  for  the  first  time.3  There  is  much  obscurity 

1  Herod.,  iv.  7.  Dion  agrees  with  him.  2  From  the  Vergil  of  the  Vatican. 

3  These  were  the  advance-guard  of  the  Gothic  nation,  which  was  at  this  time  approaching 
from  the  Euxine,  but  had  not  yet  arrived,  —  unless  we  ought  to  understand  these  Goths  of 
Caracalla  to  be  Getae  who  inhabited  both  shores  of  the  Danube.  Dion  (Ixvii.  6)  gives  this 
name  to  the  unsubjected  Dacians. 


88  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


about  all  this,  but  it  reveals  an  intention  to  protect  the  northern 
frontier  of  the  Empire.  “  After  having  reorganized  the  army  of 
the  Danube,’'  says  Herodian,  “  he  passed  into  Thrace,  and  there 
made  numerous  regulations  for  the  cities,”  as  be  had  already  done 
in  Gaul,  and  as  he  did  later  in  Asia.  What  the  regulations  were, 
we  have  no  knowledge ;  but  the  fact  is  to  be  noted,  for,  being 
doubtless  conceived  in  a  spirit  contrary  to  local  liberties,  they 
must  have  hastened  the  hour  when  these  liberties  disappeared. 

He  crossed  the  Hellespont,  —  narrowly  escaping  shipwreck  in  a 
tempest,  —  and  repaired  to  Pergamus,  to  obtain  from  Aesculapius 
the  cure  of  the  unknown  malady  from  which  he  suffered.  He  sub¬ 
mitted  to  all  the  prescriptions  then  in  use  for  wonderful  cures. 
A  miracle  in  this  case  would  have  been  of  importance  and  of 
excellent  profit ;  but  it  could  not  be  effected  by  ordinary  proce¬ 
dures  :  the  Emperor  was  too  conspicuous  a  patient.  The  god 
turned  a  deaf  ear,  and  Caracalla  was  not  healed.1  At  Troy  he 
crowned  the  tomb  of  Achilles  with  flowers,  and  desired  himself  to 
have  a  Patroclus.  His  freedman  Festus  was  chosen  to  play  the 

dangerous  part  of  friend  to  the  hero.  The 
new  Patroclus  died  a  few  days  later,  —  which 
gave  the  Emperor  an  opportunity  to  repeat 
the  funeral  scenes  described  by  Homer ; 
and  it  is  credibly  asserted  that  Festus  had 
been  poisoned  for  the  purpose. 

Caracalla  passed  the  winter  of  214-215 
.  at  Nicomedeia,  where  Dion,  our  principal 
guide  at  this  point,  was  with  him.  The 
Parthians  were  at  this  time  wasting  in  internal  feuds  the  last  rem¬ 
nant  of  their  national  life,  and  the  occasion  was  propitious  for  attack¬ 
ing  them.  He  arrogantly  claimed  from  them  two  refugees,  whom 
they  immediately  gave  up ;  and  this  docility  deprived  him  for  the 
moment  of  all  pretext  for  war.  However,  victories  were  necessary 
to  him.  The  king  of  Osrlioene  governed  his  country  for  the 

1  At  this  visit,  Pergamus  at  least  gained  great  privileges,  which  Macrinus  revoked. 
Texier  finds  in  all  Asia  Minor  the  ruins  of  only  two  amphitheatres, — at  Cyzicus  and  Per¬ 
gamus  (vol.  ii.  p.  227).  The  amphitheatre  at  Pergamus  is  very  small,  —  184  by  121  feet-  The 
waters  of  the  stream  which  flows  across  it  could  be  stopped  for  nautical  games,  crocodile 
combats,  or  nymphs  playing  on  marine  shells,  as  Martial  indicates  (De  Spectac.  26). 

2  Coin  of  Pergamus,  with  the  effigies  of  Aesculapius,  Hygieia,  and  Telesphorus. 


RUINS  OF  THE  BASILICA  OF  PERGAMUS  (TEXIER,  ASIE  MINEURE,  VOL.  II.  PL.  1 17). 


Thfc  library 
the 

University  of  IIMiwf*. 


CAKACALLA,  MACRINUS,  AND  ELAGABALUS,  211  TO  222  a.  d.  89 


benefit  of  Rome.  Edessa,  its  principal  city,  situated  on  the  caravan- 
road,  at  the  foot  of  a  cliff  which  bore  the  acropolis,  and  from 
which  issued  an  abundant  supply  of  water,  was  and  still  is. an 
important  strategic  point,  the  centre  of  defence  for  Upper  Mesopo¬ 
tamia.  It  is  possible,  but  not  certain,  that  this  king  had  entered 
into  compromising  relations  with  the  Persians.  Along  that  remote 
frontier  friendships  were  fluctuating.  Caracalla  resolved  to  destroy 
this  tributary  state:  he  persuaded  the  king  to  come  to  him,  cast 
him  into  prison,  and  made  a  Roman  colony  of  his  capital.  The 
affair  was  insignificant,  but  the  deposition  of  an  Oriental  king 
always  occasioned  more  clamor  than  a  like  event  in  the  West ; 
moreover,  Abgarus  probably  had  a  well-filled  treasury.1  Caracalla 
employed  the  same  method  of  procedure  with  respect  to  the  king 
of  Armenia,  then  at  variance  with  his  son.  He  invited  them  to 
choose  him  as  arbiter ;  and  when  they  had  come,  he  treated  them 
as  he  had  the  king  of  Osrhoene.  But  the  Armenians  were  not  so 
easily  captured  as  their  monarch  had  been ;  they  made  a  determined 
resistance,  and  destroyed  a  Roman  army  sent  against  them. 

The  senators,  whom  Caracalla  reproached  for  their  idleness, 
while  he  was  exposing  himself  in  their  behalf  to  fatigues  and 
dangers,  naturally  applauded  these  lofty  exploits.  The  surname 
“Parthicus”  was  decreed  to  him,  and  the  acclamations  in  his 
honor  always  ended  by  the  wish  that  his  reign  might  endure  a 
hundred  years.  For  all  that,  he  still  felt  himself  to  be  hated,  and 
wrote  to  them  from  Antioch :  U1  know  that  my  exploits  are  dis¬ 
pleasing  to  you ;  but  I  have  arms  and  soldiers,  so  I  am  not 
disturbed  by  what  you  think.” 

He  had  come  to  Antioch  in  search  of  pleasures;2  in  Alexan¬ 
dria,  where  he  arrived  at  the  end  of  the  autumn  of  215,3  he  sought 
for  vengeance.  The  Alexandrians — a  frivolous  and  jeering  race  — 


1  This  kingdom  must  have  been  re-established,  for  we  afterwards  find  kings  at  Edessa. 
The  deposed  dynasties  sometimes  re-appeared  in  the  high  offices  of  Rome.  A  descendant  of 
Herod  was  proconsul  of  Asia  about  135,  and  a  Julius  Antiochus,  of  the  royal  race  of  Com- 
tnagene,  was  consul  and  one  of  the  Arval  Brothers  (Bull,  de  corr.  Hellen.,  1882,  p.  291). 
At  the  other  extremity  of  the  Empire,  the  country  of  the  Gallaeci  and  the  Asturians  was 
separated,  in  215,  from  Hispania  Citerior.  This  was  merely  a  dismemberment  of  a 
province  (C.  I.  L.  vol.  ii.  No.  2,661). 

2  Antiochenses  colonos  fecit  salvis  tributis  (Digest.  1.  15,  8,  sec.  5).  He  granted  to  them, 
as  also  to  the  Byzantines,  jura  vetusta  (Spart.,  Car.  1). 

3  Eckhel,  iii.  215. 


90  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


CARACALLA  AS  AN  APPLE-SELLER.1  CARACALLA  AS  A  WARRIOR.1 

city  the  most  prominent  citizens  went  forth  to  meet  him,  bearing 
in  their  hands  the  sacred  objects,  as  if  their  gods  wished  to  do 
honor  to  the  new  god  who  was  coming.  Caracalla  received 
them  well :  he  made  them  sit  at  his  table ;  then,  in  contempt  of 
the  old  and  sacred  laws  of  hospitality,  at  the  termination  of  the 
feast  ordered  them  to  be  put  to  death.  During  the  execution 
his  troops  seized  their  arms  and  rushed  into  the  city.  The  squares, 
the  principal  streets,  the  chief  edifices,  were  quickly  occupied  by 
them ;  the  Emperor  himself  took  his  station  in  the  temple  of 
Serapis,  and  thence  directed  the  massacre.  The  slaughter  continued 

1  Grotesque  statuettes  of  the  Museum  of  Avignon  (Ch.  Lenormant,  Nouveaux  Memoir es). 


gave  to  Julia  the  surname  of  Jocasta,  her  son’s  incestuous  spouse, 
the  mother  of  two  hostile  brothers ;  they  called  Caracalla  “  the 
very  great  Getic  ”  (■ maximus  Geticus ),  —  a  cutting  allusion  to  an  exploit 
which  had  not  been  accomplished  in  the  country  of  the  Getae ;  and 
they  laughed  at  this  ugly  man,  undersized  and  bald,  old  before  his 
time,  who  assumed  to  copy  the  great  heroes,  Achilles  and  Alexander. 
All  this  was  reported  to  the  Emperor.  When  he  approached  the 


CABACALLA,  MACKINUS,  AND  ELAGABALUS,  211  TO  222  a.  d.  91 


through  many  clays,  without  distinction  of  age,  condition,  or  sex. 
The  number  of  the  victims  must  have  been  immense,  for  Alex¬ 
andria  was  an  ant-hill  of  men,  and  also  an  opulent  city,  where 
the  soldier  struck  at  random  and  found  pillage  everywhere.  The 
temples  even,  those  sacred  banks  in  which  private  persons  often 
deposited  their  riches,  were  not  spared.  The  carnage  ceased  only 
when,  sated  with  blood  and  booty,  the  murderers  dropped  their 
swords. 

In  announcing  this  exploit  to  the  Senate,  “  the  Ausonian 
monster”  said:  “As  to  the  quantity  and  quality  of  those  who 
have  perished,  it  matters  little,  for  they  all  merited  the  same  fate.”  1 
The  public  conscience  was  perhaps  secretly  indignant ;  but  officially 
the  senators  commemorated  this  new  species 
of  victory  by  a  coin  representing  the  Emperor 
trampling  Egypt  under  his  feet. 

Caracalla  then  resumed  his  schemes  of  con¬ 
quest  (216).  He  sent  to  ask  from  the  Parthian 
king  the  hand  of  his  daughter ;  and  on  his 
refusal,  crossed  the  Tigris,  captured  Arbela, 
where  he  flung  to  the  winds  the  ashes  of  the 
kings,  and  ravaged  a  part  of  Media.  The  enemy,  taken  by  surprise, 

offered  no  resistance.  After  this  easy  success  the  Emperor  returned 

to  Mesopotamia  and  went  into  winter  quarters  in 
Edessa,  there  to  consult  the  oracle  of  the  god  Lunus ; 
but  while  seeking  the  future,  he  lost  the  present : 

on  his  way  to  Carrhae  he  was  slain  by  one  of  those 

very  men  whose  appetites  he  had  pampered,  — 
a  soldier  discontented  because  he  had  not  been 
appointed*  centurion.  The  murder  occurred  April  8,  217,  when 
Caracalla  was  barely  twenty-nine  years  old.4 

The  Romans  had  divinities  whom  they  called  Dirae ,  “  the 


LARGE  BRONZE  OF 
CARACALLA.2 


COIN  OF 
CARACALLA.3 


1  Dion,  lxxvii.  22,  whom  I  follow  always  in  preference  to  Herodian. 

2  PM.  TR.  P.  XVIII  IMP.  Ill  COS.  IIII  PP.  SC.  Caracalla  trampling  under  foot 
a  crocodile,  symbol  of  Egypt,  and  receiving  two  ears  of  corn  from  the  hands  of  Africa 
(Cohen,  No.  474). 

3  Coin  commemorative  of  the  victory  of  Caracalla  over  the  Partliians  ( Victoria 
Parthica  Maxima).  Aureus  struck  in  the  year  217. 

4  Zosimus  does  not  believe  that  Caracalla  was  killed  by  Macrinus ;  “  the  author  of 
his  death,”  he  says,  “was  never  known.”  Herodian  (iv.  12)  gives  us  to  understand  that 
there  was  a  conspiracy  among  the  chiefs  of  the  army,  and  Spartianus  affirms  it  (Carac.  6). 


92  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


Terrible  Ones,”  —  avenging  powers  which  always  exist  for  monarchs. 
since  expiation  surely  follows  great  crimes,  and  finally  overtakes 
either  those  who  have  committed  them,  or  their  posterity. 

Julia  Domna  was  then  at  Antioch.  Up  to  Caracalla’s  last  hour 
she  had  exercised  supreme  authority ;  but  she  had  also  endured 
supreme  anguish.  For  a  quarter  of  a  century  the  Roman  world 
had  been  at  her  feet;  then,  her  husband  being  dead,  one  of  her 

sons  had  been  murdered  by  the  other ; 
and  now  the  murderer  had  also  fall¬ 
en  under  the  blows  of  an  assassin, 
involving  in  his  downfall  the  ruin 
of  his  house.  Too  proud  to  endure 
the  condition  of  a  subject  under  an 
adventurer  whom  her  family  had 
raised  from  nothing,  and  to  become, 
after  so  much  grandeur,  the  object  of 
public  pity,  she  resolved  to  escape 
from  her  distress  like  a  Stoic  of 
ancient  days.  Moreover,  she  suffered 
from  a  malady  perhaps  incurable ; 
death  was  approaching  her :  she 
went  to  meet  it,  and  allowed  herself 
to  die  of  starvation.1 2 3 * * 

Caracalla  had  constructed  at  Rome  a  portico  on  which  were 
engraved  the  exploits  of  his  father,  and  Baths  which  are,  after 
the  Colosseum,  the  grandest  ruin  in  Rome,  and  one  of  the  largest  in 
the  world.8  A  colonnade,  4,750  feet  in  length,  formed  an  inclos¬ 
ure,  within  which  were  gardens  with  trees,  lawns,  and  flowers,  and 
a  stadium  for  gymnastic  exercises,  which  Roman  hygiene  prescribed 
after  the  bath.  The  thermae  themselves  —  an  edifice  750  feet  long 
by  500  in  width  —  contained  a  theatre,  halls  for  declamation  or 
study,  courts  with  porticos,  museums,  and  libraries;  finally,  an 
immense  reservoir,  surrounded  with  sixteen  hundred  seats  of  sculp- 

1  Gem  of  the  Cabinet  de  France,  No.  2,033. 

2  According  to  Ilerodian  (iv.  13)  she  killed  herself  through  despair,  or  in  obedience  to 
a  secret  order. 

3  lie  had  not  time  to  complete  these  thermae ;  the  external  colonnade  was  constructed  by 

Elagabalus,  and  completed  by  Alexander  Severus  (Lampridius,  Heliog.  17,  and  Alex.  25). 

On  the  thermae  of  the  Romans,  see  Yol.  IV.  p.  354 


THE  GOD  LUNUS.1 


CARACALLA,  MACRINUS,  AND  ELAGABALUS,  211  TO  222  a.  d.  93 


CARACALLA  OFFERING  TO  MARS  A  VICTORY.1 


tured  marble,  where  three  thousand  persons  could  bathe  at  once. 
In  the  centre  of  this  colossal  construction  rose  the  cella  Soliaris , 
covered  with  a  low  dome.2  Everywhere  were  the  choicest 


THERMAE  OF  CARACALLA.3 


marbles,  the  most  beautiful  mosaics,  and  the  masterpieces  of  art. 
From  it  have  been  taken  the  Hercules  of  Glycon,  the  Flora,  and  the 

1  Gem  of  the  Cabinet  rle  France ,  No.  2,103  (agate,  20  mill,  by  27).  Caracalla  seated, 
half  nude,  like  Jupiter,  holds  in  one  hand  a  horn  of  plenty,  and  with  the  other  presents 
a  Victory  to  a  statue  of  Mars.  On  the  exergue:  MAR(ti)  VTC(tori).  (Chabouillet,  op.  cit. 
p.  274.) 

2  [It  has  been  shown  by  Mr.  Middleton,  in  his  Ancient  Rome  in  1885,  that  this  roof  was  no 
arch,  but  a  solid  mass  of  concrete,  cast  in  this  shape,  and  laid  on  like  a  metal  lid.  —  Ed.] 

3  Restoration  by  Blouet  (Rlcole  des  Beaux-Arts). 


94  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


magnificent  group  of  Dirce,  known  under  the  name  of  the  Farnese 
Bull.  A  single  column  from  these  thermae  made  a  sufficient 
decoration  for  the  square  della  Santa  Trinita  at  Florence,  and  the 
Museum  of  Naples  is  filled  with  sculptures  brought  from  these 


FRAGMENT  OF  MOSAIC  FROM  THE  THERMAE  OF  CARACALLA  (CASING  OF  THE 

UPPER  STORY). 


ruins,  —  the  last  and  supreme  effort  of  Roman  art.  Spartianus- 
remarks  that  the  street  leading  to  the  Baths  of  Caracalla,  which 
was  also  constructed  by  this  Emperor,  was  the  finest  in  Rome. 

In  Syria,  he  had  continued  the  works  begun  by  his  father ;  at 


INTERIOR  OF  A  HALL  OF  THE  THERMAE  OF  CARACALLA  t 


PRESENT  CONDITION. 


/ 


t 


fhe  Llbeafy 
*)f  the 
Uutverslty 


CARACALLA,  MACRINUS,  AND  ELAGABALUS,  211  TO  222  a.  d.  95 


Baalbec,  the  great  vestib.ule  and  the  temenos  of  the  temple  of 
Jupiter  were  built  by  him. 

These  works  of  art  will  not,  however,  save  his  memory.  He 
had  scarcely  reigned  six  years,  and  this  short  time  had  been  suffi¬ 
cient  to  do  irreparable  damage.  Under  Commodus,  Pertinax,  and 


FLORA,  CALLED  THE  FLORA  FARNESE.1 

Julianus,  the  soldiery  had  been  insolent ;  under  Caracalla  the  army 
actually  took  possession  of  the  Empire.  Accustomed  to  see  this 
Emperor  defer  in  everything  to  their  caprices,  they  desired  that  this 
regime,  which  was  so  profitable  to  them,  should  endure ;  and  to  this 
end  made  choice  of  Emperors  who  would  not  be  able  to  change  it. 

1  Colossal  statue  found  in  the  Thermae  of  Caracalla. 


96  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


II.  —  Macrinus  (April  12,  217  —  June  8,218);  Elagabalijs 
(June  8,  218  —  March  11,  222). 


Macrinus  (Marcus  Opellius  Macrinus)  was  an  African,  like 
Severus,  and  a  native  of  Caesarea,  the  Cherchel  of  the  French 
colony  in  Algiers.  He  was  of  humble  origin.  It  was  said  that  he 
had  been  a  slave  and  a  gladiator;  we  know  that  he  was  procu¬ 
rator'  of  the  property  of  Plautianus,  and  that  he  barely  escaped 
perishing  with  him.  Severus  was  favorably  disposed  towards  this 
confidential  agent  of  his  old  friend,  making  him  superintendent  of 
the  post-service  of  the  Flaminian  Way.  Caracalla,  forgetting  who 
had  been  his  first  protector,  appointed  him  advocate  of  the  treas¬ 
ury,  and  later,  praetorian  prefect.  Macrinus  was  a  mild  and 
just  man,  without  talent  or  ambition,  who  would  never  have 
dreamed  of  empire,  had  not  a  letter  denouncing  himself  fallen 
into  his  hands.1  To  escape  certain  death,  he  caused  the  Emperor 
to  be  slain ;  and  his  accomplice  having  been  instantly  cut  down  by 

the  guards,  the  part  which 
Macrinus  had  played  in  the 
murder  was  not  at  first  discov¬ 
ered.  He  affected  great  sor¬ 
row,  which  won  the  soldiers  ; 
on  the  fourth  day  he  was 
proclaimed  emperor,  being  as 
yet  a  mere  knight.2  Thus 
we  see  how  everything  is 
becoming  debased,  even  the  imperial  dignity.  His  son  Diadu- 
menianus,  then  in  his  ninth  year,  was  made  Caesar  and  Prince  of 
the  Youth  (April  12,  21 7). 4 


DIADUMENIANUS  ANTONINUS,  CAESAR  AND 
PRINCE  OF  THE  YOUTH.3 


1  Capitolinus  is  very  mucli  opposed  to  him ;  but  Dion,  his  contemporary,  says  too 
much  in  his  favor  out  of  hatred  to  Caracalla  (lxxviii.  40).  Ilerodian  speaks  also  of  his 
severity  (v.  2). 

2  Ilerodian  (v.  1)  and  Dion  (lxxviii.  14).  He  had,  however,  received  the  consular 
ornaments  (Dion,  ibid.  13,  (which  had  assured  him  the  title  of  clarissimus  (Or.-Henzen, 
No.  5,512).  Cf.  Lampridius,  Alex.  21. 

3  M.  OPEL.  ANTONINYS  DIADVMENIANVS  CAES.,  around  the  head  of  the 
young  prince.  On  the  reverse,  PRINC.  JWENTVTIS  S.C.,  Diadumenianus,  standing, 
holding  an  ensign  and  a  sceptre.  At  his  left,  two  ensigns. 

4  Lampridius  ( Diad .  2)  has  preserved  these  words  of  Macrinus,  shoeing  that  to  the 
ordinary  donativum  were  added  promotions,  which  redoubled  the  interest  that  the  soldiers 


CARACALLA,  MACRINUS,  AND  ELAGABALUS,  211  TO  222  a.  d.  97 


Macrinus  did  not  dare  to  have  Caracalla  declared  a  public 
enemy.  The  ashes  of  the  late  Emperor  were  borne  secretly  to  the 
tomb  of  the  Antonines;  and  that  his  images  might  disappear  quietly, 
a  decree  sent  to  the  mint  all  the  statues  of  silver  and  gold.  But 
he  received  divine  honors.  A  temple  and  pontiffs  were  consecrated 
to  him.  The  soldiers  would  not  have  suffered  their  favorite 
Emperor  to  be  deprived  of  an  apotheosis. 

As  the  conqueror  of  Niger  had  assumed  to  continue  the  house 
of  the  Antonines,  so  Macrinus  wished  to  attach  himself  to  the 
African  dynasty,  —  without,  however,  claiming  all  the  inheritance. 
He  took  the  name  of  Severus,  and  gave  to  Diadumenianus  that  of 
Antoninus,  which  Caracalla  had  borne.  This  was  by  way  of  flattery 
to  the  multitude,  —  always  so  easily  captivated  by  words  and  ap¬ 
pearances,  to  use  an  expression  of  Horace.1  Macrinus  now  applied 
himself  to  gaining  the  general  favor :  that  of  the 
Senate  by  manifestations  of  respect ;  of  the  soldiers 
by  money ;  of  the  people  by  the  suppression  of 
recent  imposts.  He  also  endeavored  to  satisfy  the 
public  conscience  by  the  recall  of  the  proscribed 
and  the  punishment  of  informers.  But  all  this  was 
done  in  a  petty  way,  and  nowhere  was  felt  the 
firm  hand  of  a  man  capable  of  imposing  his  will. 

The  king  of  the  Parthians  had  invaded  Meso¬ 
potamia  with  a  large  army.  Macrinus,  obliged 
to  lead  against  him  troops  lacking  in  discipline, 
and  without  ardor  for  this  war,  met  with  re¬ 
pulses,  which  the  enemy  were  not  able,  however, 
to  turn  into  defeats.  The  Romans,  masters  of 
reverse  of  a  coin  the  cities  and  of  numerous  strongholds,  in  which 

OF  MACRINUS.3  ,  .  . 

they  had  had  time  to  collect  all  the  provisions, 
left  the  plain  to  the  enemy’s  cavalry,  who  could  not  subsist  there. 
The  two  monarchs  soon  wearied  of  a  struggle  in  which  neither  of 


APOTHEOSIS  OF 
CARACALLA.2 


had  in  multiplying  the  vacancies  of  the  throne  and  the  imperial  adoptions :  Ilahete,  corn - 
militones,  pro  imperio  ternos,  pro  Antonini  nomine  aureos  quinos  et  solitas  promotiones,  sed 
geminatas. 

1  .  .  .  Qui  stupet  in  titulis  et  imaginibus  ( Sat .  I.  vi.  17). 

2  CONSECRATIO.  S.  C.  Caracalla  in  a  four-horse  chariot,  on  a  funeral  pile  of  three 
stories.  (Large  bronze  struck  after  the  death  of  Caracalla;  Cohen,  No.  396.) 

3  PONTIF.  MAX.  TR.  P.  II  COS.  PP.  S.  C.  Felicitas  standing,  holding  a  caduceus  and 

a  horn  of  plenty.  (Large  bronze;  Cohen,  No.  92.)  , 

VOL.  VII.  7 


DIADUMENIANUS.2 

to  their  king  Tiridates  his  mother,  whom  Caracalla  had  retained  in 
captivity,  the  lands  which  the  late  king  had  possessed  in  Cappadocia, 
and  probably  gave  him  a  pension,  in  consideration  of  which  the 
Armenian  agreed  to  receive  a  gold  crown  from  Macrinus  as  a 
sign  of  the  Emperor’s  suzerainty.  In  Dacia  their  hostages  were 

1  Dion,  lxxviii.  27. 

2  The  cuirass  and  the  cloak  of  this  marble,  bust  are  of  alabaster  (Capitol,  Hall  of  the 
Emperors,  No.  57). 


98  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 

them  was  heartily  engaged.  Macrinus,  besides,  was  in  haste  to 
return  to  Rome  ;  he  made  humble  proposals,  leleased  the  prisoners, 
and  gave  fifteen  million  drachmas,  with  which  Artabanus  was  sat¬ 
isfied.1  He  again  humiliated  himself  before  the  Armenians,  restored 


CARACALLA,  MACRINUS,  AND  ELAGABALUS,  211  TO  222  a.  d.  99 


also  returned  to  the  Barbarians.  Under  Caracalla,  the  Empire  had 
maintained,  at  least  in  the  face  of  the  enemy,  the  proud  attitude 
which  Severus  had  given  it. 

The  success  of  the  Roman 
arms  was  not,  however,  the  less 
celebrated  on  account  of  these 
events.  The  coins  were  like  an 
official  journal  of  the  time,  and 
quite  as  unreliable  as  certain 
bulletins  of  victories.  One  of 
them,  which  the  Senate  ordered 
to  be  struck,  bore  the  words : 

Victoria  Partliica -1 

Macrinus  undertook,  how¬ 
ever,  to  draw  closer  the  bonds 
of  discipline,  so  lax  under  Cara¬ 
calla  ;  and  while  leaving  to  the 
veterans  the  increase  of  pay,  the 
rewards  and  exemptions  from 
service  which  had  been  lavished 
upon  them,  he  attempted  to 
subject  the  recruits  to  the  regu¬ 
lations  of  Severus,2 3 *  and  treated 
them  all  with  extreme  severity. 

A  victor  might  have  done  this 
with  success ;  an  Emperor  who 
had  been  half-conquered,  and  macrtnus.8 

had  just  been  obliged  to  pur¬ 
chase  a  peace,  was  incapable  of  imposing  this  reform.  The  war  had 
called  many  troops  into  Syria :  he  made  the  mistake  of  keeping 


1  Eckhel,  vii.  258. 

2  Dion,  lxxviii.  28.  According  to  Capitolinus  (Macr.  12),  he  condemned  adulterers  to  be 
burned  (junctis  corporibus ),  and  fugitive  slaves  to  fight  as  gladiators.  Informers,  if  they  failed  to 
prove  the  accusation,  forfeited  their  heads ;  if  they  proved  it,  they  were  branded  with  infamy, 
after  having  received  the  sum  which  the  law  allowed  them.  lie  condemned  soldiers  to  the  cross, 
or  had  other  servile  punishments  inflicted  upon  them  ;  and  he  often  “  decimated  ”  them.  T  doubt 
whether  he  was  capable  of  so  much  energy.  Yet  Ilerodian  (v.  2)  confirms  the  words  of 
Capitolinus. 

3  Heroic  statue  (in  the  Vatican)  of  Greek  marble  which  has  preserved  its  antique  head 

(Museo  Pio  Clem.  vol.  iii.  pi.  12). 


was  and  what  had  been,  that  comparison  which  malecontents  always 
turn  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  present.  Macrinus  had  written 
to  the  Conscript  Fathers  that  he  intended  to  do  nothing  without 
them ; 2  that  is  to  say,  that  he  proposed  to  give  back  to  the  Senate 

1  Bust  of  the  Capitol,  Hall  of  the  Emperors,  No.  55. 

2  In  the  letter  which  Macrinus  wrote  to  the  Senate  to  announce  the  revolt  of  Elagabalus,. 
he  complained  of  the  insatiable  greed  of  the  soldiers,  and  of  the  impossibility  of  provid¬ 
ing,  with  the  ordinary  revenues  of  the  state,  for  their  pay  at  the  rate  to  which  Caracalla  had 
raised  it. 


100  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 

them  there.  These  inactive  soldiers,  their  minds  still  full  of  the 
memories  of  the  great  expeditions  of  Severus,  began  to  reckon  up 
the  profits  that  had  accrued  to  them  from  the  victories  of  the 
father  and  the  largesses  of  the  son,  and  to  make,  between  what 


MACRINUS.1 


CAR  AC  ALL  A,  MACRINUS,  AND  ELAGABALUS,  211  TO  222  a.  d.  101 

that  central  position  in  the  Empire  which  the  late  Emperor  had 
given  to  the  army.  It  would  have  been  wise  for  Macrinus  to 
do  this  silently ;  especially  important  was  it  for  him  to  send  back 
to  their  respective  garrisons  the  legions  which  were  useless  in  the 
pacified  East,  and,  above  all  things,  not  to  pass  his  own  time 
in  Antioch  gazing  at  dancers  and  listening  to  buffoons.  Soon 
complaints  were  openly  made  in  the  camps  of  the  parsimony  of 
the  new  Emperor,  —  of  this  civilian  who  kept  the  soldier  in  his 
tent,  while  but  lately  cities  had  been  his  quarters.  Men  spoke  of 
the  millions  given  up  to  the  Parthians  as  of  property  taken  from 
the  legions ;  and  they  finally  came  to  believe  that  the  real  mur¬ 
derer  of  the  Emperor  who  had  been  so  dear  to  the  army  was  no 
other  than  Macrinus. 

After  the  death  of  Julia  Domna,  Macrinus  had  relegated  to 
Emesa  the  sister  of  that  Empress,  Maesa,  with  her  two  daughters, 
Soaemias,  mother  of  Avitus  Bassianus  (afterwards  notorious  under 
the  name  of  Elagabalus),  and  Mamaea,  whose  son,  born  in  an  old 
Canaanite  city,  where  the  Venus  of  Libanus  was  adored,1  had  taken, 
from  a  temple  of  that  city  consecrated  to  Alexander, 
the  name  of  the  Macedonian  hero.  It  seems  that 
these  Syrian  women,  who  were  very  intelligent,  had 
made  advantageous  marriages,  by  taking  husbands 
who  were  both  old  and  wealthy ;  at  least,  the  two 
were  already  widows,  and  rich.  They  had  also  made  (GOLD  com), 
skilful  use  of  their  imperial  connections;  and,  in  217,  what 
remained  of  the  family  of  the  priest  Bassianus,  three  women  and 
two  children,2  were  now  united  near  the  Temple  of  the  Sun.  This 
sanctuary,  in  great  veneration  throughout  all  Syria,  possessed  the 
right  of  asylum;3  it  afforded  shelter  for  their  wealth  and  their  persons. 
Macrinus,  a  timorous  usurper,  lacking  the  audacity  which  some¬ 
times  renders  usurpation  successful,  left  in  the  hands  of  his  enemies 
all  this  gold,  —  a  sure  means,  in  such  a  time,  to  bring  about  a  revo¬ 
lution.  Another  imprudence  was  that  of  sending  a  legion  into 
camp  in  the  vicinity  of  this  treasure,  to  which  Maesa  and  her 
daughters  had  the  key,  and  near  a  city  which,  owing  to  Caracalla 

1  Area 'Caesarea  or  Cesarea  Libanis.  Cf.  Belley,  Mem.  de  l’ A  cad.  des  inscr.  xxxii. 
685  et  seq. 

2  Soaemias  had  had  a  second  son  (Orelli,  No.  946,  and  Boeckh,  C.  I.  G.  No.  6,627). 

A  Lamprid.,  Heliog.  2. 


102  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


the  title  and  privileges  of  an  Italic  colony,  venerated  his  memory 
and  his  race.1 

The  three  women,  without  counsellors,  without  support,  under¬ 
took,  in  their  remote  Syrian  city,  to  overthrow  an  Emperor;  and 
they  did  overthrow  him. 

They  had  consecrated  the  elder  of  the  boys  to  the  priesthood 
of  the  god  of  Emesa,  —  an  office  hereditary  in  the  family  of' 
Bassianus;  they  had  caused  him  to  be  circumcised,  for  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  conforming  with  the  custom  of  the  country,  and  had 
forbidden  him  to  eat  pork.  They  themselves  also  produced  an 
effect  on  the  minds  of  the  people  by  devotion  either  feigned  or 
sincere.  An  inscription  gives  to  Maesa  the  title  of  “  very  holy ;  ” 2 
coins  of  Soaemias  represent  her  in  the  character  of  the  Venus 
Celestia ; 3  and  Mamaea,  through  religious  curiosity  and  political 
sagacity,  had  entered  into  correspondence  with  Origen.4  There 
were  many  Christians  and  Jews  in  this  region  whom  these  ad¬ 
vances  might  win,  without  alarming  the  pagans.  Then,  as  to-day, 
these  sensuous  and  impressionable  populations  suffered  themselves  to 
be  deceived  by  the  outward  appearance  of  sanctity.  In  the  East 

there  have  always  been  marabouts,  who  make  use 
of  religion  for  political  ends.  The  three  women 
assigned  this  part  to  the  boy  in  whom  were  cen¬ 
tred  their  affections  and  their  hopes. 

Varius  Avitus  Bassianus,  better  known  under 
the  name  of  his  god  Elagabalus,5  was  then  in 
his  fourteenth  year. 6  He  had  that  statuesque 
beauty  which  the  Greeks  regarded  as  a  gift  from 
the  gods;  and  when,  clad  in  a  purple  robe  em¬ 
broidered  with  gold,  his  head  encircled  with  a  crown  of  precious 
stones  whose  iridescence  sparkled  like  a  luminous  aureole  about  his 


ELAGABAirs.  ON  A 
COIN  OF  TRALLES.7 


1  Digest ,  1.  15,  1,  sect.  4.  2  ISanctissima  (Ilenzen,  No.  5,515). 

3  Eckhel,  vii.  265.  See  Yol.  VI.  p.  552,  a  statue  of  Soaemias,  Venus  Celestia. 

4  Eusebius,  Hist.  eccl.  vi.  21.  We  must  not  in  this  fact  see  a  leaning  towards  Christianity, 
for  all  the  coins  of  Mamaea  are  pagan. 

J  I  he  name  Elagabalus  is  never  found  on  coins,  any  more  than  that  of  Caligula  or  Cara- 
calla.  These  surnames  have  passed  into  history  from  the  mouth  of  the  people.  II  is  official 
name  was  Marcus  Aurelius  Antoninus. 

6  Herod.,  v.  3.  Lampridius  assigns  him  three  years  more  (and  the  same  to  Alexander 
Severus)  ;  but  Dion  represents  him  as  being  yet  a  child,  -rrathlov  (lxxviii.  36  and  38),  and  makes 
him  die  at  the  age  of  eighteen  (lxxix.  20). 

7  Large  bronze,  the  reverse  of  which  we  have  given  in  Yol.  IY.  p.  211. 


CARACALLA,  MACRINUS,  AND  EL  AG  ARAL  US,  211  TO  222  a.  d.  103 


brow,  he  went  up  to  the  temple  to  perform  the  sacred  rites,  the 
crowd  believed  they  beheld  a  child  of  destiny.  The  soldiers  en¬ 
camped  in  the  suburbs  of  the  city,  often  came  to  this  renowned 
sanctuary,  and  even  more  than  others  admired  and  loved  the  young 
priest,  whom  Severus  had  cradled  upon  his  knees.  Gradually  the 
report  spread  that  Elagabalus  was  more  nearly  connected  with  him 
who  had  been  the  real  Emperor  of  the  soldiers.  Servants  of  the  pal¬ 
ace  of  Emesa  asserted  that  he  was  the  son  of  Caracalla ; 1  and  money 
distributed,  promises  made,  and  hopes  held  out,  easily  persuaded 
men  who  had  an  interest  in  being  persuaded.  For  the  success  of 
this  intrigue,  Maesa  sacrificed  her  gold,  Soaemias  her  honor ;  but 
neither  of  them  cared  for  what  they  lost.  The  gold  of  Maesa  was 
placed  at  high  interest,  and  Soaemias  thought  that  the  mantle  of 
an  empress  would  cover  all.2  As  for  the  soldiers,  they  asked 
nothing  better  than  to  give  to  an  effeminate  Syrian  the  Empire 
of  Augustus  and  Trajan. 

One  night  Elagabalus  repaired  to  the  camp  of  Emesa,  followed 
by  wagons  which  bore  the  price  of  the  Empire ;  and  when  day 
dawned  he  was  proclaimed.  They  gave  to  him  the  names  of 
Marcus  Aurelius  Antoninus  (May  16,  218),  —  a  last  tribute  to  those 
famous  Antonines  whose  renown  was  beginning 
to  be  magnified  by  remoteness,  and  whom  the 
poets  of  the  time  ranked  above  the  gods.3 

A  praetorian  prefect,  Ulpius  Julianus,  hap¬ 
pened  to  be  in  the  vicinity,  with  a  troop  of 
Moorish  horsemen  whom  he  believed  to  be  de¬ 
voted  to  Macrinus,  their  compatriot.  He  has- 

.  THE  GOD  OF  EMESA. 

tened  to  the  camp  to  torce  its  gates  ;  the  attack, 

feebly  conducted,  was  not  successful,  and  a  second  attempt  met  the 
same  fate.  So  much  was  not  needed  to  make  the  fidelity  of  his 
soldiers  waver.  When  they  heard  a  cubicularius  of  the  late  Emperor 
proclaim,  in  the  name  of  the  new,  that  the  property  and  the  rank 
of  the  dead  man  should  belong  to  him  who  brought  to  the  camp 
of  Emesa  the  head  of  a  centurion  or  a  tribune ;  when  they  saw 


1  He  assumed  this  title,  which  is  found  in  the  inscriptions :  divi  Severi  nepos,  divi  Antomni 
filius. 

2  Lamp'ridius  ( Heliog .  2)  accuses  Soaemias  of  having  led  the  life  of  a  courtesan  ( meretricis 
more  vixit). 

3  .  .  .  Antoninos  pluris  fuisse  quam  deos  (Lamprid.,  Diad.  7). 


gold,  —  they  slew  their  officers,  and  the  ensigns  of  the  two  armies 
were  united. 

On  a  first  report  of  the  prefect,  Macrinus  had  seen  in  this 
revolt  only  an  outbreak  of  women,  which  he  could  easily  subdue. 

1  Bust  of  the  Capitol,  Hall  of  the  Emperors,  No.  57. 


104  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 

theii  comrades  display  from  the  top  of  the  wall  the  boy  whom  they 
called  the  son  of  Caracalla,  together  with  the  bags  of  Maesa’s 


ELAGABALTJS.1 


CARACALLA,  MACRINUS,  AND  ELAGABALUS,  211  TO  222  a.  d.  105 


Soon  a  messenger  from  the  camp  of  Emesa  arrived.  “  I  bring  you 
the  head  of  Elagabalus,”  he  said ;  and  flung  down  that  of  Julianus. 
The  sight  of  this  bloody  trophy  which  the  rebels  had  sent  him, 
the  audacity  of  this  soldier,  who  profited  by  the  confusion  to  make 
his  escape,  caused  anxiety  in  the  Emperor’s  heart ;  and  he  had 
recourse  to  what  seemed  the  great  agent  of  safety  with  soldiers, — 
gold.  To  have  an  occasion  for  promising  to  each  legionary  five 
thousand  drachmas,  of  which  a  thousand  were  paid  on  the  spot, 
he  conferred  the  title  of  Augustus  on  his  son.  The  letter  which 
announced  to  the  Senate  this  elevation,  promised  the  Romans  a 
largess  of  150  drachmas  per  head,  —  from  which  we  see  that  a  soldier 
was  then  esteemed  to  be  worth  thirty-three  times  as  much  as  one 
of  the  sovereign  people.  He  also  re-established  all  the  military 
regulations  of  Caracalla. 

These  largesses,  inspired  by  fear,  came  too  late ;  every  day 
deserters  made  their  way  from  all  points  of  Syria,  singly  or  in 
bands,  to  the  camp  of  Emesa.  The  legion  of  Albano,  which  was 
encamped  at  Apameia,  deserted  in  a  body ;  so  that  the  army  of 
Elagabalus  became  strong  enough  to  go  in  pursuit  of  that  of 
Macrinus.  The  battle  took  place  on  the  confines  of  Syria  and 
Phoenicia ;  Gannys,  the  eunuch  or  servant  of  Mamaea,  who  led 
the  soldiers  of  the  young  Caesar,  was  a  skilful  general.  He 
took  up  a  good  position,  and  Maesa,  Soaemias,  and  even  Ela¬ 
gabalus,  cast  themselves  into  the  fray  to  inspire  their  troops. 
Macrinus,  on  the  contrary,  frightened  by  the  tumult  and  by  new 
defections,  fled,  leaving  his  praetorians  to  maintain  valiantly  the 
reputation  of  the  corps ;  but  when  they  became  aware  of  the 
cowardice  of  their  chief,  and  received  the  promise  of  Elagabalus 
that  they  should  preserve  their  rank  and  honors,  they  laid  down 
their  arms,  and  the  higli-priest  of  the  Sun  found  himself  master 
of  the  Roman  world.  This  occurred  June  8,  218.1 

Macrinus  had  sent  in  advance  to  Antioch  an  announcement 
of  victory.  When  he  arrived  near  that  city,  he  took  a  certificate 
of  the  imperial  post,  cut  off  his  hair  and  beard,  and  in  dis¬ 
guise  attempted  in  great  haste  to  escape  into  Europe  by  way  of 

1  Is  it-  in  remembrance  of  this  victory  that  he  founded  in  Palestine,  on  the  site  <>! 
Emmaiis,  a  city  of  victory,  NIcopolis?  (Eusebius,  Chron.,  ad  ann.  224.)  He  made  Emesa 
a  colony  possessing  the  jus  Italicum  {Digest,  1.  15,  8,  sec.  6). 


106  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


Byzantium.  All  went  well  at  first,  and  lie  had  crossed  Asia 
Minor  without  opposition  ;  when  great  fatigue  and  need  of  money 
obliged  him  to  stop  in  a  poor  dwelling  in  the  outskirts  of 
Chalcedon.  A  note  written  by  him  to  an  agent  of  the  imperial 
finances  to  obtain  funds,  led  to  his  recognition;  he  was  arrested, 
and  delivered  up  to  the  soldiers  of  Elagabalus,  who  had  followed 
him  all  the  way  from  Antioch.  Macrinus  had  charged  trusty 
messengers  to  conduct  his  son  to  the  Parthians,  his  recent  allies. 


KUINS  OF  ZANA,  THE  ANCIENT  DIANA.1 


Horsemen  overtook  the  child  before  he  had  crossed  the  Euphrates, 
and  slew  him.  The  news  of  his  death  reached  his  father  while 
he  himself  was  being  brought  to  the  conqueror.  He  threw  him¬ 
self  down  from  his  chariot  and  fractured  his  shoulder,  and  the 
soldiers  at  once  murdered  him.  He  was  fifty-four  years  old,  and 
had  not  reigned  fourteen  months. 

No  monument  built  by  him  is  known  ;  but  an  arch  of  triumph 
still  standing  in  French  Algeria,  at  Zana,  the  ancient  Diana,  was 
erected  in  his  honor  by  his  compatriots  of  Mauretania.2 

1  Revue  arche'ol.,  ninth  volume. 

The  inscription  of  the  Arch  of  Zana  (Diana  Vetera norum),  constructed  directly  after 
his  accession,  terms  him  consul  designatus.  Dion,  in  fact,  informs  us  that  Macrinus  was  not 


CARACALLA,  MACRI.NUS,  AND  ELAGABALUS,  211  TO  222  a.  d.  107 


He  had  in  view,  it  is  said,  a  revision  of  the  imperial  rescripts 
(which  were  most  frequently  only  decisions  in  special  cases),  with  the 
design  of  preserving  those  which  were  of  a  general  cha¬ 
racter.  It  was  a  laudable  intention,  but  required  time 
for  its  execution ;  and  this  was  not  granted  him.1 

The  god  of  Emesa  was  represented  by  a  black 
stone,  which  no  doubt  had  the  same  origin  as  the 
black  stone  of  Mecca.  The  terrestrial  influence  of 
these  two  aerolites3  was  very  different;  for  we  may  say  that  the 
one  brought  down  from  sidereal  space  a  grand  idea  of  religious 
purity,  and  the  other,  the  principle  of  all  disorder.  The  Arabs 
relate  that  when  creation  was  complete,  God  summoned  the  angels 
to  contemplate  the  work  emanating  from  his  hands.  At  sight  of  it 
the  choir  of  celestial  spirits  uttered  a  cry  of  adoration  :  “  Allah !  ” 
This  holy  word,  proclaiming  the  unity  and  omnipotence  of  the 
Creator,  God  wrote  in  the  heart  of  the 
black  stone  which  Abraham  deposited 
in  the  Kaaba.  At  the  day  of  judgment 
it  will  open,  to  disclose  to  view  the 
divine  formula  in  flaming  characters, 
and  to  give  testimony  in  behalf  of  those 
who  have  approached  it  with  pure  lips 
and  a  repentant  heart. 

This  legend  is  beautiful  and  grand ;  elagabalus.4 

it  transforms  an  act  of  vulgar  super¬ 
stition  into  a  profession  of  moral  and  religious  faith.  The  stone 
of  Emesa  had  more  of  worldly  grandeur,  but  infinitely  less  of 

willing,  as  Plautianus  had  done  (see  Vol.  VI.  p.  82),  to  reckon  the  consular  ornaments  which 
he  had  obtained  from  Caracalla  as  a  first  consulship  (L.  Renier,  Mel.  d’e'pigr.  pp. 
185  et  seq.). 

1  He  had  also  undertaken  to  continue  the  alimentary  institutions  established  by  Trajan 
and  the  Antonines  (Lamprid.,  Diad.  2). 

2  Aureus  of  Uranius  Antonius,  bearing  the  black  stone  richly  ornamented  and  sur¬ 
mounted  by  a  crown  with  points. 

3  “  In  the  temple  ...  is  to  be  seen  a  great  stone,  rounded  at  the  base  and  pointed  at 
the  top,  of  conical  form  and  black  in  color,  which  they  say  fell  from  heaven”  (Herod.,  v.  5). 

4  Elagabalus  in  a  chariot  drawn  by  two  women  (cameo  of  the  Cabinet  de  France , 
No.  253,  white  jasper,  27  mill,  by  21).  This  monument  answers  to  the  text  of  Lampridius : 
Junxit  et  quaternas  mulieres  pulcherrimas ,  et  binas  ad  papillam,  vel  ternas  et  amplius,  et 
sic  vectatus'  est:  sed  plerumque  nudus  quum  ilium  nudae  traherent.  The  Greek  inscription, 
Long  live  Epixenus  (from  enl^evos.  intruder),  leads  us  to  think  that  this  cameo  is  a  monu¬ 
ment  of  a  satirical  nature. 


108  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


virtue.  It  was  the  image  of  the  Sun,  from  which  it  appeared 
to  have  come;  and  as  in  all  religions  the  sign  is  easily  con¬ 
founded  with  the  thing  signified,  it  was  venerated  like  the  Sun 
itself,  the  author  of  life,  the  principle  of  fecundity  and  gener¬ 
ation,  which  its  worshippers  adored  by  acts  analogous  to  those 
which  it  accomplishes  in  the  bosom  of  Nature.1 

Elagabalus  was  the  most  complete  representation  of  the  unclean 
side  of  this  naturalism.  Hitherto  the  tyrants  of  Rome  had  at 
least  had  something  of  the  Roman  character.  In  the  son  of  Severus 
there  was  still  a  soldier  ;  but  the  son  of  Soaemias  was  purely  a 
Syrian,  in  whom  was  united  all  that  the  East  could  prcd.nc;e  of 
lust  and  shame.  His  inclinations  turned  to  the  most  abominable 
vices,  his  mind  to  the  wildest  aberrations.  Hence  he  has  ever 
remained  in  the  memory  of  men  as  the  symbol  of  enthroned 
infamy.  Three  things  had  produced  this  moral  monstrosity,  —  an 
impure  religion,  absolute  power,  and  his  own  youth. 

After  his  victory,  Elagabalus  assumed  all  the  imperial  titles, 
without  awaiting  the  usual  decree  of  the  Senate,  and  marched 
rapidly  upon  Antioch,  which  purchased  exemption  from  pillage  by 
the  payment  of  five  hundred  drachmas  to  each  soldier.  Thence  were 
at  once  despatched  letters  to  the  Conscript  Fathers,  —  in  which  he 
promised  to  govern  like  Marcus  Aurelius,  —  and  sentences  of  death 
against  the  governors  who  had  been  slow  to  divine  his  fortune, 
against  senators  who  had  shown  too  much  zeal  in  favor  of  Macrinus, 
and  even  against  the  skilful  man  who  had  won  for  him  the  battle 
of  Antioch. 2 

1  Asia  was  full  of  these  conical  stones.  Venus  at  Paphos,  Gacion  at  Seleucia  (see  Vol.  IV. 
p.  313)  and  at  Bosra,  were  thus  represented.  These  cones,  of  sidereal  origin,  symbolized 
the  generative  power ;  the  two  mountains  named  Casius,  near  Antioch  and  on  the  frontier 
of  Egypt,  owed  this  name  to  their  pyramidal  form  (cf.  Mionnet,  Seleucide  et  Pierie,  Nos.  891 
et  seq.,  which  give  bronzes  of  Trajan  representing  a  cone  in  a  tetrastyle  temple,  with  the 
legend,  Zeus  Kasios,  and  De  Vogue,  Tnscr.  semitiques,  pp.  103,  104). 

Dion,  Ixxix.  3,  4.  One  of  the  victims  of  Elagabalus,  Valerianus  Paetus,  was  con¬ 
demned  “  because  he  had  had  images  of  himself  made  of  gold,  for  the  adornment  of  his  mis¬ 
tresses.  I  mention  this  fact  to  indicate  a  Roman  usage  :  the  first  act  of  an  Emperor  was  to 
coin  gold  pieces  bearing  his  effigy.  To  encroach  on  this  right  was  treason.  Paetus  was  well 
aware  of  this,  and  doubtless  was  not  as  innocent  as  Dion  says.  “  He  was  a  Galatian,”  adds  the 
historian,  “  and  was  accused  of  seeking  to  incite  a  rebellion  in  the  neighboring  province,  Cap¬ 
padocia,  and  of  having  with  this  intent  had  the  coins  struck  which  were  the  cause  of  his  death.” 
All  usurpers  began  in  this  way.  A  mm.  Marcellinus  (xxvi.  7)  relates  that  the  partisans  of 
the  usurper  1  roeopius  brought  about  the  defection  of  Illyria  by  putting  in  circulation  in 
that  province  coins  with  his  effigy,  as  proof  that  he  was  indeed  the  legitimate  emperor. 


CAEACALLA,  MACRINUS,  AND  ELAGABALUS,  211  TO  222  a.  d.  109 


Each  one  of  the  shocks  which  dethroned  an  Emperor  had  been 
succeeded  by  a  period  of  disorder,  shaking  the  Empire  to  its  foun¬ 
dation,  until  a  firm  hand  restored  its  equilibrium.  The  legions 
of  Macrinus,  sent  to  their  camps,  pillaged  the  villages  along  their 
route,  and  many  men  had  visions  of  the  imperial  purple.  They 
had  just  seen  a  mere  knight  come  to  imperial  power,  and  now 
a  boy  had  attained  it.  There  were  therefore  no  longer  laws  or 
ordinances,  Senate  or  Roman  people ;  no  longer  a  powerful  aristoc¬ 
racy  giving  to  Rome  its  Caesars.  “  At  the  death  of  Nero,”  says 
Tacitus,  “  a  terrible  secret  had  been  revealed  ;  namely,  that  emperors 
might  be  made  outside  Rome.”  At  the  accession  of  Elagabalus, 
another  secret  was  made  known ;  namely,  that  it  was  not  necessary 
to  be  the  choice  of  a  powerful  army,  but  that  a  few  cohorts  and  a 
little  popular  enthusiasm  were  sufficient  to  cause  a  revolution.  Hence 
many  men  believed  that  with  sufficient  audacity  it  would  be  easy 
to  force  the  gates  of  the  palace.  Two  legates  of  legions,  even  a 
'  centurion’s  son,  a  worker  in  wool,  and  still  others1  attempted  in 
various  places  to  gain  the  support  of  the  soldiers.  A  man  whose 
name  is  unknown  went  so  far  as  to  instigate  a  mutiny  among  the 
crews  of  the  fleet  of  Cyzicus,  while  Elagabalus  was  wintering  near 
there  in  Nicomedeia.  “  So  many  worthless  men,”  says  the  historian 
Cassius,  “had  victoriously  trodden  the  path  to  power  that  it  had 
become  smoothed  for  all  the  adventurers  who  dared  enter  upon  it.” 
The  era  of  the  thirty  tyrants  was  approaching. 

In  Mount  Taurus,  Elagabalus  had  consecrated  to  his  god  the 
temple  which  Marcus  Aurelius  had  erected  in  honor  of  Faustina,  and 
Caracalla  later  had  dedicated  to  his  own  divinity.  At  Nicomedeia 
the  new  Emperor  had  himself  painted  in  his  sacerdotal  costume. 
The  picture  was  placed  in  the  Senate  at  Rome,  above  the  statue  of 
Victory ;  and  each  senator  was  obliged,  before  taking  his  seat  in  the 
curia,  to  burn  incense  before  it.2  Elagabalus  entered  Rome  wearing 
a  purple  robe  embroidered  with  gold,  a  necklace  of  pearls,  his 
cheeks  painted  with  vermilion,  and  the  brilliancy  of  his  eyes  height¬ 
ened,  like  those  of  an  Arab  woman,  by  the  use  of  henna.  Maesa 
and  her  two  daughters  had  accompanied  him  thither.  United 
in  devising  the  plot,  these  three  women  did  not  agree  as  to  the 
advantages  to  be  obtained  from  its  success.  Maesa,  whose  political 

1  Ka'i  uWoi  St  7toAAoi  uAAcdi  (Dion,  Ixxix.  7). 


2  Herod.,  v.  1. 


110 


THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


ideas  had  been  formed  in  the  school  of  Severn s,  desired  decency 
in  conduct  and  order  in  expenditure,  —  unwelcome  prudence,  to 
which  the  boy,  intoxicated  with  power,  gave  no  heed.  In  the 

opinion  of  Soaemias,  on 
the  contrary,  Elagabalus, 
being  master  of  all  things, 
human  and  divine,  had 
no  need  to  restrain  him¬ 
self  in  anything.  Be¬ 
tween  these  twro  women 
a  division  of  power  was 
effected  in  accordance 
with  the  taste  of  each. 
Public  affairs  were  irk¬ 
some  to  the  young  Em¬ 
peror,  and  he  abandoned 
them  to  his  prudent 
grandmother,  on  condi¬ 
tion  that  she  should  not  in¬ 
terfere  with  his  pleasures, 
also  giving  her  a  seat  in 
the  Senate  near  the  con¬ 
suls.  To  his  mother  he 
gave  the  presidency  of 
a  senate  of  women,1  in¬ 
trusted  with  the  duty  of 
determining  for  the  mat¬ 
rons  their  costumes  and 
statue  of  victory.2  order  of  precedence,  the 

quantity  of  gold  and 
precious  stones  that  each  might  wear  according  to  her  condition, 
ornaments  of  litters  and  carriages,  etc., — a  singular  concern  for 
et.quette  in  this  court  of  parvenus,  where  the  monarch  made  a 
display  of  all  vices,  broke  down  the  barriers  between  all  ranks,  and 
set  a  charioteer  of  the  circus  above  a  consul !  As  to  the  mother 


1  Lamprid.,  Heliog.  4. 

Museum  of  the  Louvre,  Xo.  435.  Statue  of  Greek  marble,  apparently  celebrating  two 
triumphs  by  the  two  crowns  which  she  has,  one  upon  her  head,  the  other  in  her  right  hand. 
A  trophy  is  under  her  feet. 


CARACALLA,  MACRINUS,  AND  EL  AGAR  ALUS,  211  TO  222  a.  d.  Ill 


of  Alexander,  she  kept  herself  in  retirement,  and  took  especial 
care  to  withdraw  her  son  from  public  notice. 

The  Emperor  went  on  covering  himself  with  infamy ;  but  it 
should  be  noticed  that  although  public  morality  was  shamefully 
outraged,  the  state  did  not  suffer  greatly  during  this  miserable 
reign.1  The  executions  of  the  first  few  days,  and  the  fidelity  of 
the  legions  definitively  obtained  for  the  new  government,  rendered 
the  ambitious  prudent.  Public  agitation  subsided ;  and  since  the 
Germans  remained  quiet,  and  the  Parthians  had  enough  to  do  to 
avert  impending  ruin,  the  cities  of  the  frontier  were  at  peace  like 
those  of  the  interior. 

But  at  Rome  what  shame,  what  exhibitions !  Gluttonv  which 
would  have  driven  Vitellius  to  despair,  lewdness  such  as  to  make 
Nero  blush,  scenes  of  infamy  which  can  onty 
be  told  in  Latin  !  Elagabalus  entered  the  city 
attired  like  a  Phoenician  priest  or  Median  sa¬ 
trap,  bringing  with  him  his  shapeless  god,  the 
black  stone  of  Emesa,  which  he  honored  with 
barbaric  songs,  lascivious  dances,  and  immolations 
of  children.2  He  made  it  the  supreme  divinity 
of  the  Empire.  All  Olympus  was  obliged  to 
humiliate  itself  before  this  intruder,  whom  he  solemnly  united  in 
marriage  with  the  Astarte  of  Carthage,  giving  for  a  bridal  escort  to 
these  deities  the  conquered  gods,  —  those  to  whom  for 
centuries  the  Romans  had  attributed  their  fortune,  and 
who  consequently  had  aided  them  in  acquiring  it ! 
Jupiter  Capitolinus  was  reduced  to  the  position  of 
courtier  to  the  Syrian  idol,4  and  the  pontifex  maximus 

COIN  OF  EMESA.5 

of  Rome  became  the  priest  of  the  Sun-god.6 

Every  year,  says  Herodian,  Elagabalus  conducted  his  god  into  a 
new  and  magnificent  temple  which  he  had  built  for  him  in  one  of 
the  suburbs  of  Rome.  The  stone  was  placed  on  a  chariot  sparkling 

1  .  .  .  kci'i  pr/ftev  peya  kcikov  tj/ilv  (pipovra  (Dion,  lxxix.  8). 

2  Lamprid.,  Heliog.  11. 

3  Elagabalus,  priest  of  the  Sun-god  (SACERD.  DEI  SOLIS  ELAGAB.  SC.). 

4  O  inn  ex  deox  sui  dei  ministros  esse  ciiebat  (Lamprid.,  Heliog.  7). 

5  The  conical  stone  of  Elagabalus  on  a  chariot  drawn  by  four  horses  (SANCT.  DEO 
SOLI  ELAGABAL.).  Imperial  coin  of  Emesa  ;  Mionnet. 

6  Sncerdos  dei  solis  (Eekhel,  vii.  250)  ;  in  the  inscriptions,  lie  joined  to  his  title  of  Emperor 
that  of  priest  of  Elagabalus  (Henzen,  Nos.  5,514-15). 


112  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


with  gold  and  precious  stones,  drawn  by  six  white  horses ;  and 
that  the  idol  might  appear  to  drive  the  chariot  himself,  no  person 
was  seated  in  it.  In  front,  the  Emperor,  supported  by  two  guards, 
ran  backwards,  in  order  to  keep  his  eyes  ever  fixed  on  the  holy 
image.  Behind  were  borne  the  statues  of  all  the  gods,  the  imperial 
ornaments,  and  the  precious  furnishings  of  the  palace  ;  the  garrison 
of  Rome  and  the  entire  populace  formed  the  escort,  bearing  torches 
and  strewing  the  way  with  flowers  and  wreaths..1 

Dion  relates  an  adventure  which  took  place  about  the  same 
time  near  the  province  of  which  he  was  governor:  “  On  the 
banks  of  the  Ister  appeared,  I  know  not  how,  a  genius  who 
resembled  in  countenance  Alexander  of  Macedon.  He  traversed 
Maesia  and  Thrace  after  the  manner  of  Bacchus,  accompanied  by 
four  hundred  men  armed  with  thyrsi  and  clad  in  goat-skins.  They 
did  no  harm,  and  everything  was  supplied  to  them,  lodging  and 
provisions,  at  the  expense  of  the  cities  ;  for  no  one  dared  oppose 
him  in  word  or  action,  neither  chief,  nor  soldier,  nor  procurator, 
nor  governor  of  provinces :  and  in  open  daylight,  as  he  had  an¬ 
nounced,  he  advanced  in  procession  as  far  as  Byzantium.  Thence, 
crossing  over  into  Chalcedon,  he  performed  at  night  certain  sacri¬ 
fices,  buried  in  the  ground  a  wooden  horse,  and  disappeared.”  2 

That  these  populations,  stupefied  by  gross  superstitions,  should 
take  for  a  god  the  fanatic  or  the  adroit  swindler  who  lived  at 
their  expense,  makes  it  easier  to  understand  that  other  grotesque 
madman  effecting  *  a  religious  revolution  at  Rome  in  favor  of  his 
black  stone.  In  the  preceding  chapter  we  have  seen  the  noblest 
men  of  this  age  piercing  in  thought  the  depths  of  the  sky,  there  to 
seek  that  God  who  ever  keeps  from  view.  The  two  facts  which 
we  have  related  above  show  the  imagination  of  the  weak-minded, 
whether  princes  or  people,  haunted  by  kindred  visions.  Genii, 
daemons,  are  everywhere ;  every  religion  furnishes  them :  and  the 
multitude,  not  knowing  which  they  should  honor,  pays  a  common 
and  timorous  adoration  to  them  all.  It  is  the  popular  syncretism, 
manifesting  itself  after  its  own  fashion  on  a  lower  plane  than  the 
syncretism  of  the  philosophers. 

In  the  temple  of  his  god,  where  we  have  already  seen  all 
the  occupants  of  the  Graeco-Roman  Pantheon,  he  placed  also,”  says 

1  Herod.,  v.  5. 


2  Dion,  lxxix.  18. 


CARACALLA,  MACRINUS,  AND  ELAGABALUS,  211  TO  222  a.  d.  113 


his  biographer, 


u 


IVLIA  AQVILIA  SEVE- 
1!A  AVG[VSTA].2 


the  image  of  the  Great  Goddess,  the  Vestal  fire, 
the  Palladium,  and  the  sacred  bucklers.  He  desired 
to  have  the  rites  of  the  Jews  and  the  Samaritans 
observed  there,  and  even  the  ceremonies  of  Chris¬ 
tianity  ;  so  that  the  priests  of  Elagabalus  might 
possess  the  secret  of  all  religions.”  1 

This  secret  the  Christians  believed  that  they 
possessed  ;  and  seeing  them  oppose  to  this  religious 
anarchy  the  unity  of  their  belief  and  the  discipline 
we  feel 


of  their  churches 
that  the  hour  of  their  tri¬ 
umph  is  coming.  The  just 
loathing  inspired  by  the  high- 
priest  of  Emesa  must  not, 
however,  prevent  us  from 
recognizing  that  in  the  midst 
of  these  unclean  festivals  an 
important  fact  lay  concealed. 

The  worship  of  the  black 
stone  did  not  accord  with 
the  Roman  genius,  which  the 
Greeks  had  rendered  exact¬ 
ing  in  respect  to  the  plastic 
representation  of  the  gods  ; 
but  the  monotheistic  idea 
which  this  stone  represented 
became  a  very  Roman  one. 

The  worship  of  the  Sun 
assumes  more  and  more  im¬ 
portance  ;  for  it  was  of  all 
the  pagan  cults  the  most 
rational.  We  shall  see  that 
the  Sun  was  the  great  god 
of  Aurelian  and  of  the 

Constantinian  family.  The  most  contemptible  of  Emperors  ac¬ 
cordingly  plays,  without  suspecting  it,  a  part  in  the  religious 

1  Lam'prid.,  Heliog.  4.  2  Large  bronze  of  the  Cabinet  de  France. 

3  Bust  of  Parian  marble,  Museum  of  the  Louvre. 

8 


JULIA  CORNELIA  PAULA.3 


VOL.  VII. 


114  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d 


ANNIA  FAUSTINA.1 

found  in  the  mind  of  his  successor,  but  combined  with  moral 
purity;  while  through  it  all  Elagabalus  seeks  and  takes  only  that 
which  may  excite  his  passions. 

For  his  absurd  extravagances  and  his  infamous  debauchery  we 
may  turn  to  the  pages  of  Lampridius.  History  notes  these  turpitudes 
or  these  follies;  it  does  not  delay  over  them.  We  need  only  say 
that,  after  the  example  of  Asiatic  monarchs,  who  seek  their  ministers 

1  Bust  of  pavoncizetto;  Capitol,  Hall  of  the  Emperors,  No.  58. 


disintegration  of  Roman  society.  This  profligate  madman  had  also 
in  his  way  the  intoxication  of  the  divine.  He  is  the  represen¬ 
tative  of  that  confused  medley  of  beliefs  whence  faith  in  the  one 
God  was  even  then  beginning  to  emerge.  This  confusion  will  be 


CARACALLA,  MACRINUS,  AND  ELAGABALUS,  211  TO  222  a.  d.  115 


in  the  lowest  ranks,  when  he  did  not  sell  the  great  offices  of 
state,  he  assigned  them  to  dancers  and  barbers ;  that  he  treated 
the  Senate  as  a  troop  of  slaves  in  togas,  —  which  unfortunately 
they  were ;  that  his  palace  was  sanded  with  gold  dust,  and  that 
his  silken  garments,  covered  with  jewels,  were  never  worn  twice ; 
that  he  filled  his  fish-ponds 
with  rose-water, 1  and  that 
he  had  naval  engagements 
represented  on  lakes  of  wine  ; 2 
that  he  finally  dressed  as  a 
woman,  painted  his  face, 
wrought  at  work  in  wool, 
and  had  himself  styled  clom- 
ina  or  imperatrix,  the  Em¬ 
peror  then  being  represented 
by  the  son  of  a  cook  or 
■some  young  athlete.  In  less 
than  four  years  he  espoused 
four  or  five  wives,  whom  he 
repudiated  and  took  back 
again.  The  first  of  these, 

Julia  Cornelia  Paula,  of 
eminent  family,  retained  only 
for  one  year  her  title  and 
honors ;  he  carried  off  the 
second,  Julia  Aquilia  Severa, 
from  the  altar  of  Vesta,  —  an 

JULIA  MAESA. 

act  of  sacrilege  which  made 

even  the  Romans  of  that  time  tremble ;  the  third,  Annia  Faus¬ 
tina,  was  descended  from  Marcus  Aurelius :  the  memory  of  the 
great  Emperor  protected  her  but  for  a  few  weeks  against  the  caprices 
of  the  imperial  profligate. 

Meanwhile,  Maesa  saw  how  such  a  manner  of  reigning  must 


end.  By  adroit  flattery  she  induced  Elagabalus  to  give  the  title 
of  Caesar  to  his  cousin  Alexander,  and  to  adopt  the  latter  as  his 

1  Lamprid.,  Heliog.  19.  During  the  banquets,  the  ceiling  opened,  to  let  fall  upon  the 
guests  such  a.  quantity  of  flowers  that  many  were  smothered  by  them. 

2  Ibid.,  16,  22. 

3  Bust  of  the  Capitol,  Ilall  of  the  Emperors,  No.  59. 


116  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


son.  He  ought  to  devote  himself,  she  told  him,  to  the  enjoy¬ 
ment  of  his  feasts,  to  his  sacred  orgies,  and  to  his  divine  duties, 
while  another  had  the  care  of  public  affairs.  This  other  was 

a  boy  twelve  years  old,  and  the 
adoptive  father  was  but  sixteen  ;  the 
new  Caesar  had  however  already 
manifested  his  gentle  and  admirable 
character,  so  that  his  grandmother 
and  his  mother  centred  in  him  the 
hope  of  their  house.  His  graceful¬ 
ness,  his  discretion,  the  strict  mas¬ 
ters  whom  he  had  about  him,  the 
perils  which  it  was  known  that  he 
incurred,  and  the  secret  largesses, 
of  Mamaea  to  the  praetorians,  ob¬ 
tained  for  him  a  popularity  at  which 
Elagabalus  became  incensed.  The 
Emperor  sought  various  means  to 
put  his  rival  out  of  the  way  quietly. 
But  Mamaea  allowed  her  son  to 
taste  no  beverage  or  dish  sent  by 
the  Emperor ;  she  surrounded  him 
with  trusty  servants  ;  and  the  levity 
of  Elagabalus,  which  permitted  his 
designs  to  be  easily  perceived,  made 
it  possible  also  to  prevent  the  exe¬ 
cution  of  them.  He  at  last  deter¬ 
mined  on  an  overt  attack.  He  sent  an  order  to  the  senators  and 
to  the  soldiers  to  take  from  his  cousin  the  title  of  Caesar,  while 
at  the  same  time  murderers  sought  the  boy  in  order  to  kill  him. 
But  the  order  caused  a  tumult,  in  which  the  Emperor  narrowly 
escaped  death.  He  was  obliged  to  go  with  Alexander  to  the  camp 
of  the  praetorians,  who  required  of  him  the  death  or  dismissal  of 
his  unworthy  favorites,  commanded  the  Emperor  to  change  his 
mode  of  life,  and  ordered  their  prefects  to  see  to  this,  and  espe¬ 
cially  to  prevent  Alexander  from  imitating  his  cousin.  They  were 
like  the  French  Cabochiens  of  1413,  enjoining  morality  upon  the 


ELAGABALUS.1 


1  Statue,  heroic  size;  Collection  Mattei;  Clarac,  Musie,  etc.  pi.  7G8,  No.  2,487  A. 


CABACALLA,  MACRINUS,  AND  EL AGAB ALU S,  211  TO  222  a.  d.  117 

Dauphin,  driving  from  the  Hotel  Saint-Pol  the  musicians  and 
dancers  when  they  lingered  too  late  into  the  night,  and  even  the 
councillors  who  displeased  them,  conducting  the  latter  to  Parliament 
to  be  judged,  or  murdering  them  on  the  way  thither.  There  is, 
however,  this  difference,  —  in  1413  Paris  was  in  a  state  of  revolu¬ 
tion  ;  while  at  Rome,  in  221,  that  the  soldiery  should  give  orders 
to  the  Emperor  had  become  an  habitual  thing. 

On  the  first  of  January,  222,  the  two  lads  were  to  go  before 
the  Senate  to  assume  the  consular  dignities.  It  required  all  the 
urging  of  Maesa  and  the  threat  of  a  new  outbreak  of  the  praeto¬ 
rians  to  induce  Elagabalus  to  allow  himself  to  be  accompanied  by 
his  adopted  son.  But  he  absolutely  refused  to  perform  with  him 
at  the  Capitol  the  customary  ceremonies.  At  another  time  he 
caused  a  report  of  the  death  of  Alexander  to  be  put  in  circulation, 
in  order  to  judge,  from  the  conduct  of  the  soldiers,  whether  he 
might  assassinate  his  young  cousin  without  incurring  too  great 
risk.  But  the  soldiery,  being  secretly  informed  that  the  young 
prince  was  alive,  demanded  his  presence  among  them  with  loud 
shouts,  recalled  the  guard  which  they  sent  each  morning  to  the 
palace,  and  shut  themselves  up  in  their  camp.  At  this  result  of 
his  experiment,  Elagabalus  hastened  to  appease  them  by  showing 
to  them  the  Caesar.  His  mother  and  Mamaea  followed  him,  each 
exciting  the  praetorians  against  the  other.  Mamaea  at  last  carried 
the  day.  A  tumult  broke  out,  blows  were  interchanged,  the  friends 
and  ministers  of  Elagabalus,  and  Soaemias  herself,  were  slaughtered. 
That  effeminate  voluptuary,  whom  a  crumpled  rose-leaf  disturbed, 
hid  himself  in  the  sinks  of  the  camp.  There  he  was  slain ;  and 
his  corpse,  dragged  through  the  streets,  was  flung  into  the  Tiber, 
and  the  god  of  Emesa  narrowly  escaped  sharing  the  fate  of  his 
pontiff.  The  Senate  consigned  to  infamy  the  memory  of  Elagabalus, 
and  history  does  the  same  (March  11,  222). 

His  cousin,  now  thirteen  years  of  age,1  was  proclaimed  Augustus, 
and  took  the  name  of  Marcus  Aurelius  Alexander,  to  which  the 
soldiers  added  —  in  memory  of  him  who  was  believed  by  some 
to  be  the  new  Emperor’s  grandfather  —  that  of  Severus.2 

1  Herodian  (v.  7)  says  that  he  was  entering  on  his  twelfth  year  when  Elagabalus 
adopted  him ;  he  is  generally  assigned  three  years  more. 

2  Marcus  Aurelius  Severus  Alexander  (Eckhel,  vii.  281).  I  have  already  described 


118  THE  AFEICAN  AND  S  YE  IAN  PKINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


To  mark  distinctly  that  the  Oriental  orgy  was  ended,  and  that, 
the  ancient  deities  dispossessed  by  the  Syrian  idol  had  resumed 
their  sway,  Alexander  engraved  on  his  coins  the  title  of  priest  of 
Rome  ( sacerdos  Urbis)} 

(Vol.  VI.  p.  201)  that  session  of  the  Senate  at  which  Alexander  declined  the  other  names 
which  the  Conscript  Fathers  desired  to  confer  upon  him. 

1  Eckhel,  vii.  270. 


IVLIA  SOAEMIAS  AVOVSTA. 


CHAPTER  XCIII. 


ALEXANDER  SEYERUS  (MARCH  11,  222 -MARCH  19,  235  A.D.). 

I.  —  Reaction  against  the  Preceding  Reign  ;  Mamaea  and 
Ulpian  ;  the  Council  of  the  Emperor. 

WE  now  see  the  heritage  of  Augustus,  by  the  grace  of  the 
soldiers,  in  the  hands  of  two  women  and  a  child !  What 
vitality  in  this  Empire,  which,  though  under  female  sway,  yet 
remained  erect  and  imposing ! 

But  these  two  women  were  of  distinguished  ability.  We  have 
already  remarked  the  skilful  prudence  of  Maesa  and 
the  lofty  character  of  Alexander’s  mother.  The  latter 
by  a  well-ordered  education  developed  the  favor¬ 
able  tendencies  of  this  gentle  and  virtuous  youth. 

She  placed  about  her  son  the  ablest  masters,  taking 
care  that  they  should  also  be  men  of  the  greatest 
integrity,  and  she  caused  him  to  be  taught  enough  of  literature 
and  art  to  have  a  taste  and  respect  for  them,  but  not  enough  to 
be  tempted  to  bestow  upon  them  the  time  demanded  by  public  bus¬ 
iness.  It  is  noteworthy  that  Alexander  expressed  himself  more 
easily  in  Greek  than  in  Latin.  This  invasion  of  Greek  into  the 
higher  Roman  society  is  a  sign  of  the  progress  accomplished  by 
another  invasion,  —  that  of  Oriental  hellenism  and  Alexandrian 
syncretism,  of  which  this  Emperor  was  also  a  representative. 

“  From  the  day  of  his  accession,  ”  says  Herodian,2  te  he  was 
surrounded  with  all  the  pomp  of  sovereign  power  ;  but  the  care 
of  the  Empire  was  left  to  the  two  princesses,  who  made  an  effort 
to  bring  back  good  morals  and  the  ancient  dignified  demeanor. 
They  chose  sixteen  senators,  the  most  eminent  for  experience  and 

1  IVLIA  MAMAEA  AVG[usta],  mother  of  Alexander  Severus. 

2  vi.  i.  "A  coin  of  222  bears  the  words,  Liberalitas  Aug.  This  was  the  resuming  of 
the  congiarium  granted  ut  vioris  erat,  suscepto  imperio,  says  Eckhel. 


120  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


integrity  of  life,  to  form  the  imperial  council.1  Without  their 
approval  no  measures  were  carried  into  execution.  The  people, 
the  army,  the  Senate,  were  delighted  with  this  new  form  of  gov¬ 
ernment,  which  replaced  the  most  insolent  of  tyrannies  by  a  sort 
of  aristocracy.” 

It  may  be  doubted  whether  the  Senate  was  as  satisfied  as 
Herodian  says  with  the  new  importance  given  to  the  comilium 
principis.  We  shall  refer  elsewhere  to  this  institution,  which  took 
from  the  ancient  masters  of  Rome  their  last  prerogatives. 

The  Conscript  Fathers  gave  themselves  at  least  the  pleasure  of 
devoting  to  the  infernal  gods  the  Emperor  or  the  consul  who, 
in  future,  should  give  a  woman  a  seat  in  their  august  assembly. 
Doubtless  this  decree  of  the  Senate  appeared  to  them  as  memorable 
as  the  one  ordering  the  victorious  Pyrrhus  to  depart  from  Italy.2 

“  The  statues  of  the  gods  which  Elagabalus  had  taken  away,” 
continues  the  historian,  “  were  at  once  restored  to  their  places.  Those 
functionaries  wdio  had  unworthily  obtained  office  were  dismissed,  and 
their  places  filled  by  the  most  capable  citizens.  ...  In  order  to 
preserve  the  Emperor  from  the  mistakes  which  might  be  caused 
by  absolute  authority,  the  ardor  of  youth,  or  by  some  of  the  vices 
natural  to  his  family,  Mamaea  strictly  guarded  the  entrance  to 
the  palace,  and  allowed  no  man  to  gain  admission  whose  morals 
were  of  bad  repute.” 

This  reaction  against  the  last  reign,  these  precautions  to  save 
the  new  from  the  same  excesses,  were  legitimate ;  and  since  it  had 
been  deemed  expedient  to  make  a  boy  an  Emperor,  it  was  fitting 
to  guide  him  gently  from  his  childish  sports  to  the  management 
of  the  Empire.  This  could  not  better  be  done  than  by  means  of 
the  government  of  aged  men  and  women,  by  this  paternal  and 
gentle  authority,  the  calm  and  somnolence  of  which  were  calculated 
to  protect  Alexander’s  minority,  and  to  enable  him  to  reach  full 
age,  if  the  soldiers  consented  to  grant  him  time  to  do  so. 

1  Lampridius  {Alex.  15)  makes  the  number  twenty.  The  council  was  complemented, 
in  certain  circumstances,  by  adding  other  senators,  so  that  the  number  of  fifty  Conscript 
lathers,  required  for  the  validity  of  a  decree,  might  be  attained.  This  council  also  made 
appointments  to  the  Senate  {Ibid.  18).  The  last  great  jurisconsults  of  Rome,  Florenti- 
nus  IMarcianus,  Ilermogenes,  Saturninus,  and  Modestinus,  numerous  fragments  of  whose 
wiitings  the  Pandects  have  preserved  to  us,  were  members  of  this  council,  together  with 
Paulus  and  Ulpian. 

Lamprid.,  Ihdiog.  18.  Dating  from  the  time  of  Alexander  Severus,  we  find  no 
more  senatus-consulta. 


ALEXANDER  SEVERUS,  222  TO  235  a.d. 


121 


Into  the  imperial  council  Mamaea  had  called  her  compatriot, 
Ulpian,  whom  she  appointed  praetorian  prefect,1  thus  making  him 
the  second  personage 
in  the  state.  In  re¬ 
ality,  considering  the 
age  of  the  Emperor, 

Ulpian  was  the  first ; 2 
for  he  was  present  at 
all  the  imperial  audi¬ 
ences,  reported  mat¬ 
ters  to  Alexander,  with 
the  decisions  to  be 
given,  and  had  the 
conduct  of  the  whole 
government.  Under 
this  great  juriscon¬ 
sult,3  justice  was  im¬ 
partial  and  the  police 
service  vigilant. 

Those  who  speculated 
on  the  destitution  of 
the  people,  the  venality 
of  a  judge,  or  the 
compliance  of  a  func¬ 
tionary,  had  to  render 
strict  account ;  but  no 

One  lost  his  life  or  JULIA  mamaea,  mother  of  ALEXANDER  severus.4 

property  without  a 

judgment  given  after  arguments  on  both  sides.5  Many  honorable 
rescripts  were  promulgated.  They  did  not  introduce  any  modifi¬ 
cations  into  the  law,  but  we  see  in  them  the  provident  kindliness 


1  He  appears  to  have  held  this  position  under  Elagabalus  (Lamprid.,  Alex.  26,  and  Aur. 
ATctor,  De  Cues.  26). 

2  See,  in  respect  to  this  officer’s  duties,  Vol.  VI.  p.  533. 

3  Of  the  numerous  works  of  Ulpian,  the  most  important  were  eighty-three  books  Ad 
Edictum,  and  fifty-one  Ad  Sabinum.  Numerous  fragments  remain  to  us  of  his  Liber  regulcirum, 
singularis.  The  extracts  from  these  various  treatises  form  a  third  of  the  Digest. 

4  Bust  of  Pentelican  marble,  Museum  of  the  Louvre. 

6  This  is  the  assertion  of  Lampridius  ;  yet  the  death  of  the  father-in-law  of  Alexander, 
and  of  Turinus,  whom  the  Emperor  caused  to  be  suffocated  (Vol.  ArI.  p.  228),  the  murder  of  severaL 
of  his  councillors  (Lamprid.,  Alex.  67),  and  some  others,  were  not  the  result  of  judicial  orders. 


122  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 

which  marks  this  reign, 1  —  a  characteristic  also  of  the  legislation  of 
the  Antonines  and  of  Severus.  Mention  is  even  made  in  them 
of  the  liberty  of  the  subjects,  —  conditioned,  it  is  true,  upon  their 
o;ood  will  and  obedience.2 

The  ability  of  these  wise  councillors  is  further  marked  by 
administrative  details,  some  of  which  were  of  real  importance. 
The  praetorian  prefecture  gave  senatorial  rank,  —  the  extension  of 
the  judicial  cognizance  of  the  prefect,  who  sometimes  had  to  sit 
in  judgment  on  senators,  rendering  this  change  necessary;  and  his 
decisions  had  the  force  of  law  when  they  were  not  contrary  to 
ordinances  already  existing.3  With  Ulpian  this  office  attained  the 
zenith  of  its  power. 

Fourteen  curators,  all  of  consular  rank,  were  intrusted  with  the 
duty  of  deciding,  together  with  the  urban  prefect,  upon  all  affairs 
concerning  the  fourteen  districts  of  the  city.4  This  edict  furnished 
a  municipal  council  to  the  capital  of  the  Empire,  which,  in  respect 
to  the  maintenance  of  public  order,  had  hitherto  been  subject  to 
the  sole  authority  of  the  prefect ;  it  prescribed,  moreover,  that 
resolutions,  in  order  to  be  valid,  should  be  adopted  in  presence 
of  all  the  members,  or  at  least  of  a  majority  of  them.  This 
council,  appointed,  not  elected,  was  none  the  less  for  Rome  a 
guarantee  of  better  administration. 

The  assessores  of  the  presidents  were  entitled  to  salaries,  which 
gave  them  the  character  of  public  functionaries,  but  increased  the 
expenditures  of  the  treasury ; 5  and  it  was  forbidden  to  the  pro¬ 
vincial  governors,  as  well  as  to  the  persons  employed  about  them, 
to  engage  in  business  or  money-lending  in  the  countries  under  their 
rule.  We  have  seen6  what  wise  recommendations  Ulpian  made  to 
them  for  the  protection  of  the  common  people. 

It  had  long  been  the  custom  to  make  grants  of  lands  to  the 
veterans.  The  rule  was  now  established  that  officers  and  soldiers 
put  in  possession  of  domains  on  the  frontiers  might  transmit 

1  I  or  instance :  .  .  .  Cavetur  ut  si  patronus  libertum  suum  non  aluerit,  jus  patroni  perdcit 
( Digest ,  xxxvii.  14,  5,  sec.  1). 

*  Digest,  xlix.  1,  ‘25 :  .  .  .  Tantum  tnihi  curae  est  eorum ,  qui  reguntur,  libertatis,  quantum 
ti  bonne  voluntatis  eorum  et  obedientiae. 

3  Code,  i.  26,  2,  ann.  235.  4  Lamprid.,  Alex.  32. 

Ibid.  45.  Pescennius  Niger  bad  already  attempted  to  introduce  this  reform,  ne  consiliarit 

eos  gravarent  quibus  assidebant  (Spart.,  Nig.  7). 

6  Yol.  VI.  p.  166. 


ALEXANDER  SEVER  US,  222  TO  235  a.  d 


123 


them  to  their  children  when  the  latter  followed  the  profession 
of  arms;  otherwise  the  land  reverted  to  the  imperial  treasury.1 
These  were  military  benefices,  and  the  beginning  of  a  new  order 
of  property. 

The  post  of  dux ,  —  that  is,  of  chief  of  the  army,  without  terri¬ 
torial  command,  —  which  we  have  seen  originatinsc 

o  o 

under  Severus,  appears  now  to  have  become  a  reg¬ 
ular  office.2 

Finally,  the  government  constituted  what  may  be 
called  “banks  of  deposit,”  3 4  and  organized  into  corpo¬ 
rations  the  trades  which  had  not  as  yet  taken  that 
form ;  assigning  to  each  one  a  defensor ,  as  will  later 
be  given  to  the  cities,5  and  establishing  for  them  a  special  juris¬ 
diction.  Some  were  very  rich,  —  the  corporation  of  the  money¬ 
changers,  for  example,  who  erected  an  arch  to  Septimius  Severus. 
It  was  a  new  kind  of  industry,  beginning  or  becoming  developed. 


II.  —  The  Gentleness,  Piety,  and  Weakness  of  Alexander 

Severus. 

What  part  had  Alexander  himself  in  these  measures?  With  an 
Emperor  of  thirteen,  the  councillors  must  have  retained  power  for 
a  long  period.  But  it  may  be  said  that  all  which  they  did  in  the 
interests  of  the  subjects  corresponded,  if  not  with  the  ideas,  at  least 
with  the  feelings  of  the  young  ruler. 

Alexander’s  biographer  has  sought  to  make  of  this  reign  what 
Xenophon  makes  of  the  reign  of  Cyrus,  —  a  beautiful  “  morality ;  ” 
and  although  this  scribe  of  Constantine  had  not  yet  embraced  his 
master’s  religion,  to  flatter  Constantine  he  has  represented  the 


1  Lamprid.,  Alex.  57. 

2  Lamprid.,  ibid.  51.  Capitolinas,  in  the  life  of  Gordian  III.,  also  speaks  of  duces  honorati, 
that  is,  honorary  dukes. 

3  Lamprid.,  ibid.  38.  Medals,  Moneta  restituta,  etc.,  attest  also  a  monetary  reform 
(Eckhel,  vii.  279)  ;  but  the  explanations  of  Lampridius  on  this  subject  (39)  throw  no  light  on 
the  question. 

4  MON.  RESTITVTA.  Moneta  standing,  holding  a  balance  and  a  horn  of  plenty 
(Medium  bronze  of  Alexander  Severus). 

5  Lamprid.,  ibid.  22  and  33.  This  defensor  was  no  doubt  a  different  person  from  the 
patronus. 


124  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


pagan  Emperor  who  was  least  pagan,  as  already  half-Christian. 
From  this  it  has  resulted  that  Alexander  has  been  the  favorite  of 
history ;  as  if,  on  emerging  from  the  corrupt  atmosphere  of  the 
preceding  period,  and  before  entering  the  sanguinary  gloom  of  the 
following  age,  historians  had  taken  pleasure  in  the  description  of 
this  graceful  lad,  whom  youth,  virtue,  and  misfortune  have  conse¬ 
crated.  In  certain  respects  this  good  fame  of  Alexander  is  legiti¬ 
mate.  After  the  saturnalia  of  the  late  reign  we  have  an  Emperor 
pure  in  morals,  simple  in  tastes,  and  making  his  life  a  public 
example  more  efficacious  than  all  legal  enactments.  We  feel  an 
affection  for  this  amiable  youth  who  would  have  the  public  crier 
proclaim,  while  criminals  were  being  chastised,  these  words,  which 
were  also  graven  on  the  front  of  his  palace  :  “  Do  not  to  another  what 
you  would  not  have  done  to  yourself ;  ”  who  wrote  in  verse  the 
lives  of  the  good  Emperors,1  and  each  day  in  his  lararium  spent  a 
little  time  silent  before  the  images  of  those  whom  he  called  the 
benefactors  of  humanity,  —  monarchs  or  philosophers,  founders  of 
empires  or  religions ; 2  who,  finally,  constantly  read  the  Republic  of 
Plato,  Cicero’s  treatise  De  Officiis,  and  the  Epistles  of  Horace,  to 
draw  from  these  noble  books  his  rules  of  conduct.  Every  seventh 
day  he  went  up  to  the  Capitol  and  visited  the  temples  of  the  city,  — 
without,  however,  always  making  rich  offerings  in  them,  thinking, 
with  Persius,  that  the  worship  loved  by  the  gods  is  the  practice  of 
virtue,  and  that  they  have  no  need  of  gold,  — 

...  In  sanctis  quid  facit  aurum? 

But  he  was  liberal  to  the  poor,  to  his  friends,  and  to  those  of  his 
officers  who  had  well  fulfilled  their  duties. 

Che  great  alimentary  institution  of  Trajan  will  be  remembered ; 
this  Alexander  continued  and  extended,3  and  founded  another ;  he 

1  .  .  .  Vitas principum  bonorum  versibus  scripsit  (Lamprid.,  Alex.  27). 

2  Lampridius,  who  supplies  this  information  (Alex.  28),  adds  this  detail:  “He  never  en¬ 
tered  into  his  oratory  unless  si  facultas  esset,  id  est,  si  non  cum  uxore  cubuisset .”  This  was 
a  general  rule,  of  which  Ovid  had  already  spoken  (Fasti,  ii.  329,  and  iv.  G57).  The  Church 
inherited  this  custom.  “  This  kind  of  abstinence,”  says  Abbe  Greppo,  “was  practised  in  the 
pi  unitiv e  Church  prior  to  participation  in  the  holy  mysteries,  as  is  still  the  case  in  the  churches 
-f  tlie  East,  whose  ministers  are  not  constrained  to  celibacy”  (Trois  mem.  didst,  eccles.  p. 

I  he  Kussian  peasant  observes  the  same  rule  the  day  preceding  the  Sabbath. 

3  Puellas  et  pueros  Mammaeanas  et  Mammaeanos  instituit  (Lamprid.,  Alex.  56).  A  coin 
of  1 1. uit  ilia,  which  represents  a  woman  carrying  a  child,  shows  that  Severus  also  took  care  of 
ibis  institution  (Eckhel,  vii.  226). 


THE  ARCH  OF  THE 


MONEY-CHANGERS 


AT  ROME 


I 


The  Library 

»f  the 
Uwbrertitv  of 


ALEXANDER  SEVERUS,  222  TO  235  a.  d. 


125 


lent  money  to  poor  families  that  they  might  buy  land,  and  required 
of  them  only  an  interest  of  three  per  cent,  payable  from  the  product 
of  the  property.1 2  Frequently  he  even  made  a  gift  of  land,  slaves, 
cattle,  and  implements  of  agriculture.  While  he  augmented  the 
tax  on  the  trades  supplying  articles  of  luxury,  on  the  goldsmiths, 


gilders,  furriers,  etc.,  he  diminished  the  other  imposts,  and  lamented 
that  fiscal  agents  were  a  necessary  evil.  He  granted  remissions  to 
a  number  of  cities,  on  condition  that  the  money  which  he  thus  left 
to  them  should  be  employed  in  rebuilding  their  dilapidated  edifices ; 
he  restored  at  his  own  expense  many  old  bridges  and  constructed 
new  ones.  And 
finally,  he  founded 

#  »o° 

schools,  paid  pro-  j  * 

fessors,  pensioned 
pupils,  and  recom¬ 
pensed  advocates 
who  took  nothing: 
from  their  clients : 
these  are  our  schol 
arships  and  our 

judiciary  aid.  For  himself,  great  frugality  and  much  economy,  to 
the  extent  of  being  obliged  to  borrow  silver  ware  and  slaves  when 
he  gave  a  state  banquet ;  towards  all,  plebeians  or  senators,  even 
towards  his  own  domestics,  an  affability  which,  in  the  Emperor,  did 
not  allow  the  master  to  be  seen.  At  twenty  he  was  a  sage. 

This  wisdom,  —  which  was  not  the  fruit  of  experience,  but  a  gift 
of  nature,  —  this  kindness,  which  showed  itself  in  everything,  does 
honor  to  the  man ;  of  the  ruler  other  things  are  demanded. 
His  filial  tenderness  was  weakness  when  he  dared  not  resist  his 
mother,  who,  alarmed  by  the  many  catastrophes  she  had  witnessed, 


» 

2 


SALLUSTIA  ORBIANA.8 


1  Lamprid.,  Alex.  21.  As  to  imposts,  it  is  impossible  to  admit,  with  Lampridius,  that  he 
reduced  them  to  the  twentieth  of  what  Elagabalus  exacted.  On  the  payment  of  the  tax  in 
gold,  see  above,  p.  81,  note  3. 

2  Rhetoribus,  grammaticis,  medicis,  aruspicibus,  mathematicis,  mechanicis,  architectis  salaria 
instituit ,  et  auditoria  decrevit,  et  discipulos  cum  annonis  pauperum  Jilios  modo  ingenuos  dari 
jussit.  Etiam  in  provinciis  oratoribus  forensibus  multum  detulit,  plerisque  etiam  cinnonas  dedit, 
quos  constitisset  gratis  agere  (Lamprid.,  Alex.  44). 

8  The  Empress  Sallustia  Orbiana,  second  wife  of  Alexander  Severus,  wearing  a  diadem ; 
on  the  reverse,  FECVNDITAS  TEMPORVM.  Orbiana  seated;  before  her,  Fecundity 
kneeling,  holding  a  horn  of  plenty  and  carrying  two  children.  (Bronze  medallion.) 


126  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  ISO  TO  235  a.  d. 


sought  in  heaping  up  treasure 1  a  safeguard  against  evil  days,  —  as  if, 
for  her  and  for  her  son,  in  case  of  defeat,  there  could  be  any  other 
refuge  than  death.  This  weakness  even  becomes  odious  if  it  be 
true,  as  Herodian  relates,  that  he  allowed  Mamaea  to  drive  from 
the  palace  his  young  wife,  who  claimed  the  honors  of  an  augusta, 
and  who  deserved  them ; 2  if  he  suffered  his  father-in-law  to  be  put 
to  death  for  having  complained  to  the  authorities  of  the  time  — 
the  soldiers  of  the  praetorium  —  of  insults  which  he  had  received 
from  the  Empress.3 

Alexander’s  regret  that  he  could  not  abolish  all  taxes  is  the 
language  of  a  woman  or  of  a  courtier  of  the  rabble,  and  his  love 
for  Plato’s  Republic  betrays  a  mind  which  the  good  sense  of  Horace, 
his  other  favorite,  did  not  suffice  to  preserve  from  fair  illusions. 
His  prohibition  to  senators  of  making  investments,  to  capitalists  of 
lending  at  more  than  three  per  cent,  to  those  whose  consciences  were 
disquieted,  of  presenting  themselves  at  the  imperial  receptions,  — 
these  moral  orders,  proclaimed  by  the  herald  or  affixed  to  edicts, 
show  a  good  disposition ;  but  how  was  it  possible  to  secure  their 
execution  ?  The  regulations  about  costumes  for  the  purpose  of 
distinguishing  the  different  orders  of  citizens,  about  garments  for 
summer  and  winter,  for  fair  weather  and  rain,  were  other  pueril¬ 
ities,  of  which  Ulpian  and  Paulus  surely  prescribed  very  little. 
Before  appointing  a  functionary,  the  Emperor  published  the  can¬ 
didate’s  name,  and  invited  the  citizens,  in  case  the  person  had 
committed  any  crime,  to  denounce  him ;  adding,  however,  that  the 
informer  would  be  punished  with  death  if  he  did  not  furnish  proof 
of  his  accusation.  This  is  a  twofold  absurdity :  a  wise  government 
is  bound  to  make  its  own  investigations ;  and  no  one  was  tempted 
to  respond  to  an  appeal  when  so  terrible  a  penalty  might  be 
incurred.  But  Alexander  Severus  seems  to  have  sought  to  trans¬ 
form  the  Empire  into  an  ideal  republic. 

1  See  on  this  subject  the  sarcasms  of  Julian  in  the  Caesars. 

2  The  name  of  this  young  woman  is  not  known ;  but  after  having  repudiated  her,  Alex¬ 
ander  re-married,  and  though  no  author  has  spoken  of  his  second  wife,  we  have  coins  of  hers 
and  an  inscription  in  which  she  is  named  with  the  title  of  augusta:  Gnaea  Seia  Ilerennia 
Sallustia  Barbia  Orbiana  Augusta.  See  Eckhel,  vii.  284,  and  Corp.  Inscr.  Lat.  ii.  3,734. 

3  Others  accuse  the  father-in-law  of  a  conspiracy  against  his  son-in-law,  —  which  is  hardly 
probable.  The  catastrophe  was  doubtless  brought  about  by  a  women’s  quarrel.  The  young 
Empress  is  believed  to  have  had  the  fate  of  Plautilla,  but  without  deserving  it,  for  she  loved 
her  husband  tenderly  (Herod.,  vi.  5  ;  Lamprid.,  Alex.  49). 


ALEXANDER  SEVERUS,  222  TO  235  a.  d.  12  T 

Still  further  it  is  usual  to  praise  the  pious  thought  which  led 
him  to  place,  in  his  lararium,  Apollonius  of  Tyana  by  the  side  of 
Jesus,  Orpheus  beside  Abraham,  —  a  vague  religion  of  humanity, 
whose  confused  aspirations  are,  however,  sufficient  for  some  choice 
souls.  Saint  Augustine  tells  us  of  a  matron  who  had  constructed 
a  miniature  chapel,  in  which  she  burned  incense  before  the  images 
of  Jesus  and  Paul,  of  Homer  and  Pythagoras.1  These  acts  of 
homage  to  sanctity  and  genius  honor  the  individual ;  but  it  was- 
not  by  means  of  so  simple  a  form  of  faith  that  populations  eager 
for  the  marvellous  could  be  controlled. 

Like  him  whose  name  and  virtues  the  young  Emperor  possessed, 
Alexander  would  have  been  in  private  life  the  noblest  of  men 
in  a  position  of  sovereign  power  he  was,  far  more  than  Marcus 
Aurelius,  inadequate.  The  government  of  human  affairs  is  truly 
a  masculine  task.  Those  who  succeed  in  it  are  the  men  by  nature 
fitted  to  rule,  men  of  vigorous  mind  and  of  strong  will.  These 
qualities  were  especially  necessary  in  a  state  like  the  Roman 
Empire ;  and  —  it  must  be  acknowledged  —  Alexander  Severus  did 
not  possess  them.  His  bust  in  the  Louvre,  with  its  weak  and  un¬ 
decided  features,  suggests  a  mild-mannered  person,  incapable  of 
acting,  with  eyes  that  look  but  do  not  see.  Julian,  in  the 

Caesars,  represents  him  sitting  sadly  on  the  steps  leading  to  the 
hall  where  the  Emperors  and  gods  are  going  to  banquet ;  Silenus 
mocks  at  him  and  at  his  mother,  the  hoarder  of  treasure  ;  Justice 
does  indeed  consent  to  chastise  his  murderers,  but  she  turns  away 
“  from  the  poor  fool,  the  great  simpleton,  who  in  a  corner  bewails 
his  misfortune !  ” 

For  several  years  the  soldiery,  satiated,  had  left  the  Empire 
at  peace.  But  to  preserve  discipline  among  these  coarse,  greedy, 
and  violent  men,  who  knew  their  own  strength  and  knew  nothing 
else,  —  neither  the  Empire,  nor  magistrates,  nor  the  law,  —  there 
was  needed  a  ruler  who  would  impose  upon  them  a  respectful  fear 
as  well  as  obedience,  who  would  keep  them  in  harness,  glut  them 
with  booty  and  with  glory,  and  make  them  proud  of  being 
soldiers.  With  its  mighty  army  of  mercenaries,  the  Empire  was 
condemned  to  have  for  successful  rulers  none  but  great  generals. 
Severus  had  been  such ;  Alexander  was  not.  Accordingly,  civil 


1  Liber  cle  Haeresibus,  iii.  7. 


128  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  ISO  TO  235  a.  d. 


order,  which  had  been  protected  by  the  former  against  his  soldiers, 
could  not  be  protected  by  the  latter. 

It  is  said  that,  before  renouncing  philosophy  and  the  arts,  he 
had  consulted  the  Sortes  Vergilianae,  and  that  the  poet-prophet 
had  responded  by  the  famous  lines :  — 

Excudent  alii  spirantia  mollius  aera. 

Tu  regere  imperio  populos,  Romane  memento. 

Lampridius  ascribes  to  his  hero  the  virtues  which  these  verses 
demand  in  him  who  is  to  wield  the  sovereign  power,  representing 
Alexander  as  a  stern  defender  of  the  ancient  discipline.  “  The 
soldiers,”  he  says,  “  called  him  Severus  on  account  of  his  excessive 
severity ;  ” 1  and  as  a  proof  he  shows  the  populations  flocking 
together  on  the  passage  of  the  army,  and  “  taking  the  soldiers  for 
senators,” 2  such  was  the  gravity  of  their  mien  and  the  propriety  of 
their  conduct,  and  elsewhere  he  quotes  certain  classic  reminiscences 
which  the  Emperor  turned  to  present  use.  A  senator  known  for 
his  peculations  comes  and  salutes  him  at  the  curia ;  Alexander 
repeats  against  him  Cicero’s  apostrophe  to  Catiline :  0  temgjora, 

0  mores !  vivit ;  immo  in  senatum  venit !  A  legion  mutinies ;  he 
reproves  it  in  the  words  of  Caesar :  “  Retire,  Quirites.”  Some 
of  the  officers  who  had  not  been  able  to  control  their  men  were, 
it  is  true,  put  to  death ;  but  at  the  end  of  a  month  the  muti¬ 
nous  legion  was  reinstated.  Mention  is  also  made  of  cohorts 
decimated. 

Facts  like  the  following  do  not,  however,  permit  us  to  give 
to  this  reign  such  a  character  for  strict  discipline.  A  quarrel 
arose  in  Rome  between  the  civilians  and  the  praetorians.  Both 
sides  were  much  in  earnest;3  but  before  the  populace  would  have 
dared  to  affront  the  troops,  they  must  have  been  driven  to  extrem¬ 
ities  by  many  deeds  of  insolence,  of  which  we  know  that  the 
soldiers  were  not  sparing.  There  was  fighting  for  three  days, 
with  much  bloodshed.  At  last  the  praetorians,  driven  from  the 
streets,  set  fire  to  the  houses ;  and  not  until  the  conflagration 

1  Lamprid.,  A  lex.  25. 

2  .  .  .  Ut  non  milites  sed  senatores  transire  diceres  (ibid.  49). 

8  See  what  is  said  of  the  Roman  plebs  in  the  appendix  to  book  lxxix.  of  Dion  by  the 
anonymous  author  who  wrote  this  passage. 


ALEXANDER  SEVERUS,  222  TO  235  a.  d. 


129 


threatened  to  involve  the  whole  city,  did  the  two  parties  consent 
to  desist.  We  do  not  know  what  part  the  government  took  in 
this  affair ;  but  we  are  justified  in  saying  that  such  disorders  occur 
only  under  a  feeble  authority,  and  we  may  ask  ourselves  what  the 


ALEXANDER  SEVERUS.1 


legionaries  in  the  provinces  did,  if  the  praetorians,  so  devoted 
to  the  young  Emperor,  conducted  themselves  thus  in  his  very 
presence. 

Mamaea  had  at  first  placed  at  the  head  of  the  praetorians 
two  experienced  generals,  Flavianus  and  Chrestus ;  later,  she  also 

1  Bust  of  the  Vatican. 


VOL.  VII. 


9 


130  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 

gave  them  Ulpian  for  a  colleague.  These  men  of  war  did  not 
relish  finding  civilians  in  the  praetorium,  who,  bringing  thither  the 
regular  habits  of  magistrates,  saw  to  it  that  ordinances  were  exe¬ 
cuted.  The  new  prefect  was  displeasing  to  the  cohorts  and  to 
their  chiefs,  who  formed  a  scheme  for  getting  rid  of  him.1  Ulpian 
anticipated  them  by  having  the  two  prefects  and  their  accomplices 
put  to  death.  This  tragedy  provoked  another.  The  whole  corps 
took  up  the  cause  of  the  victims,  and  Ulpian’s  life  was  several 
times  in  danger.  In  a  final  and  formidable  riot  he  took  refuge  in 
the  palace ;  the  soldiers  forced  the  gates  and  slew  him  at  the  feet 
of  Alexander,  who  vainly  threw  over  him  the  imperial  purple.2 
This  was  in  228.  We  seem  to  be  ion  the  shores  of  the  Bosphorus, 
hearing  janissaries  demand  the  head  of  a  vizier. 

A  certain  Epagathus,  formerly  a  confidential  agent  of  Caracalla 
and  Macrinus,  had  played  a  part  in  this  catastrophe  by  inciting 
the  soldiers  against  Ulpian.  He  was  only  a  freedman ;  but  the 
government  did  not  dare  to  punish  him,  for  fear  of  exciting  a 
new  revolt.  He  was  sent  on  a  mission  into  Egypt,  then  recalled, 
under  a  pretext,  into  Crete,  where  the  executioner  awaited  him.3 
This  seraglio-justice  would  of  itself  prove  the  incurable  weakness 
of  the  government. 

The  following  account  of  Dion  is  another  indication  to  the 
same  effect.  Our  historian  was  not  “  a  thunderbolt  of  war,”  and 
in  the  army  it  does  not  seem  probable  that  he  ever  took  any 
very  decided  measures.  Yet  when  he  returned  from  his  govern¬ 
ment  of  Pannonia  the  praetorians  were  of  opinion  that  he  had  shown 
himself  too  severe  in  discipline.  “  They  demanded  my  punish¬ 
ment,”  he  says,  “  fearing  lest  they  should  be  submitted  to  a  similar 
rule.  Instead  of  paying  attention  to  their  complaints,  the  Emperor 
gave  me  the  consulship.  But  the  displeasure  of  the  praetorians 
made  him  fear  that,  when  they  saw  me  with  the  insignia  of  this, 
dignity,  they  might  kill  me,  and  he  ordered  me  to  spend  the 
remainder  of  my  term  of  office  at  some  place  in  Italy,  outside 
Rome.” 4  The  prudent  consul  did  better ;  finding  that  public  life 
was  becoming  too  difficult,  he  abandoned  Rome,  Italy,  even  his 

1  Zosimus,  i.  11. 

2  .  .  .  Quem  saepe  a  militum  ira  objectu  purpurae  suae  defendit  ( Alexander ).  (Lainprid., 
Alex.  51.) 

3  Dion,  lxxx.  2,  4. 


4  Id.,  lxxx.  4  and  5. 


ALEXANDER  SEVERUS,  222  TO  235  a.  d. 


131 


great  book  of  history,  which  he  closed  with  this  last  narrative, 
and  Homer’s  lines  :  — 

“  But  Jove,  beyond  the  encountering  arms,  the  dust, 

The  carnage,  and  the  bloodshed  and  the  din, 

Bore  Hector.”  1 

Dion  had  nothing  in  common  with  Hector;  but  it  was  from  a 
bloody  fray  that  he  likewise  retired. 

We  here  take  leave  of  a  feeble  writer,  —  a  man,  however,  who, 
having  studied  the  Republic  in  its  grandeur  and  its  decadence, 
the  Empire  under  Augustus  and  Nero,  Hadrian  and  Commodus, 
was  able  to  follow  the  logical  connection  of  this  history  developing 
through  the  centuries  under  the  double  action  of  political  wisdom 
and  of  necessities  produced  by  circumstances.  If  we  inquire  what 
were  his  sentiments  in  the  matter  of  government,2  we  shall  see  that, 
notwithstanding  the  acts  of  cruelty  which  he  relates,  notwithstand¬ 
ing  those  of  which  he  himself  had  been  the  witness  and  wellnigh 
the  victim,  Dion  was  a  strong  partisan  of  the  imperial  monarchy. 
When  the  Emperor  was  a  bad  one,  men  longed  for  a  change 
of  ruler,  but  without  desiring  a  change  in  the  form  of  govern¬ 
ment.  No  one  at  that  time  imagined  any  other,  and,  it  must 
also  be  admitted,  no  other  was  possible.  Dion  only  asks  of  the 
Emperor  that  he  should  be  on  good  terms  with  the  Senate,  his 
council.  This  was  the  wish  of  Tacitus,  and  it  had  been  the 
practice  of  the  iVntonines.  Unfortunately,  since  Caracalla,  and 
now  more  and  more  every  day,  the  Emperors  and  the  consuls, 
the  praetorian  prefects  and  the  senators,  were  all  of  them  at  the 
mercy  of  the  soldiery ;  and  the  characteristic  of  such  rule  is 
frequency  of  riotous  disturbances. 

Revolts,  indeed,  broke  out  everywhere,  —  some,  says  a  contem¬ 
porary,  very  formidable;3  and  it  was  necessary  to  disband  entire 
legions.4  Those  of  Mesopotamia  killed  their  chief,  Flavius  Heracleo, 
and  made  an  emperor,  who,  to  escape  from  them,  threw  himself 
into  the  Euphrates  and  was  drowned.  Another  assumed  the  purple 
in  Osrhoene.  A  third  attempted  to  assume  it  at  Rome  even. 

1  Iliad ,  xi.  163  [Bryant’s  trans.].  2  Dion,  lii.  13  et  seq. 

3  Id.,  lxxx.  3.  Cf.  Zosimus,  i.  12. 

4  Cf.  Lamprid.,  Alex.  53,  54,  59  ;  Herod.,  vi.  4,  7  ;  Aur.  Victor,  Be  Caes.  xxiv.  3  ;  Dion, 
lxxx.  4. 


132 


THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  ISO  TO  235. 


In  the  case  of  this  last  person,  the  Emperor,  informed  of  the 
design,  invites  him  to  the  palace,  takes  him  to  the  Senate,  to  the 
army,  overwhelms  him  with  matters  of  business,  and  breaks  him 
down  with  fatigue.  After  a  few  days,  the  would-be  emperor  asks 
leave  to  return  to  his  house  and  his  obscurity. 

These  seditions  and  attempts  miscarry ;  but  the  Empire  is 
shaken  by  them,  and  they  afford  encouragement  to  the  enemy. 
In  Mauretania  Tingitana,  on  the  Illyrian  and  the  Armenian  fron¬ 
tiers,  there  are  invaders  to  be  repelled ;  the  Germans  ravage  a 
part  of  Gaul,  and  the  Persians  reclaim  the  ancient  territory  of 
Cyrus,  —  that  is  to  say,  Asia  as  far  as  the  Cyclades. 


III.  —  The  Sassanidae. 

Since  the  day  when  Arsaces  the  Brave  had  revolted  against  the 
Seleucidae,  four  hundred  and  seventy  years 1  had  elapsed,  —  a  very 
long  duration  for  an  Oriental  dynasty.  The  Parthian  monarchy 
had  extended  itself  from  the  Euphrates  to  the  Indus ;  but  the 
Arsacidae  —  men  of  shrewdness  or  violence,  according  to  the  occa¬ 
sion —  had  nothing  of  the  organizing  genius  of  Rome.  They 
neither  established  a  permanent  —  and  therefore  a  well-organized  — 
army,  nor  an  administration  binding  together  the  different  ele¬ 
ments  of  the  state  so  as  to  form  a  homogeneous  whole.  They 
suffered  to  exist  about  them  a  mighty  feudalism,2  the  cause  of 
constant  disturbances,  and  in  their  provinces  populations  which, 
having  in  common  with  the  rest  of  the  Empire  nothing  except 
the  tribute  paid  to  the  Great  King,  retained  their  customs,  their 
national  memories  and  chiefs,  —  that  is  to  say,  the  hope  and  the 
means  of  some  day  regaining  their  independence.  The  indigni¬ 
ties  which  Trajan,  Avidius  Cassius,  and  Septimius  Severus,  and 
even  Caracalla,  had  inflicted  upon  the  Parthian  monarchy,  had 
destroyed  its  prestige,  which  the  treaty  with  Macrinus  did  not 
restore. 

1  Or  476  according  to  other  reckonings.  Cf.  De  Sainte-Croix,  Mem.  sur  le  rjouvernement 
des  Parthes,  p.  30. 

2  Dion,  xli.  15;  Tac.,  Ann.  xi  10;  and  Ilerod.,  vi.  12. 


ALEXANDER  SEVERUS,  222  TO  235  a.  d. 


133 


In  the  mountains  of  Persis  lived  a  man  of  royal  blood,  Ardi- 
sliir,  or  Artaxerxes,  regarded  as  a  descendant  of  Darius,  and  said 
to  be  son  or  grandson  of  Sassan,  whence  the  name  of  his  race,  the 
Sassanidae.1 2  Admitted  into  the  household  of  the  governor  of  Persis, 
he  attracted  notice  by  his  courage  and  address,  gained  the  favor 
of  the  people  as  well  as  of  his  master,  and,  the  latter  having 
been  displaced,  he  slew  the  succeeding  king,  raised  a  revolt  among 
the  Persians,  as  Cyrus  had  formerly  done,  drew  in  the  neighboring 
nations,  with  whom  he  had  long  before  established  a  good  under¬ 
standing,  and  vanquished  the  Parthians  in  three  battles.  In  the 
last,  Artabanus  was  killed,  and  Ardishir  assumed  the  tiara  (226-227). 
On  the  cliff  of  Naksclii-Roustan,  in 
the  environs  of  Persepolis,  may  be 
seen  two  warriors  engaged  in  single 
combat.  It  is  Ardishir  wresting  the 
diadem  from  his  rival.  By  placing 
this  memorial  of  his  victory  near 
the  ancient  capital  of  the  Achaeme- 
nidae,  he  sought  to  testify  to  all  eyes 
that  his  victory  was  the  restoration 
of  the  empire  of  Cyrus. 

Oriental  monarchies  are  established 
with  the  same  rapidity  that  charac¬ 
terizes  their  decline.  In  a  few  years 
the  mountaineers  of  Persis  had  come 
back  into  the  capitals  of  the  first 

had  put  on  the  sash  of  submission,  suspended  from  their  ears  the 
ring  of  servitude,  and  taken  upon  their  shoulders  the  harness  of 
obedience.”  3  In  the  place  of  an  old  and  enfeebled  state,  Rome 
now  beheld,  along  her  eastern  frontier,  an  empire  abounding  in 
warlike  zeal,  as  is  always  the  case  with  new  powers. 

The  revolution  just  accomplished  was  religious  as  well  as  polit- 

1  According  to  Sainte-Croix  (ibid.  p.  22)  the  Persians  had  retained  their  national  chiefs; 
and  Ardishir,  at  the  time  of  the  revolt,  was  in  authority  over  the  country. 

2  Artaxerxes  wears  the  round  tiara,  adorned  with  the  symbol,  in  the  form  of  a  caduceus, 
called  mahrou.  The  Pehlvi  legend  gives  the  name  of  the  prince.  (Cornelian,  cut  in  cabochon, 
35  millim.  by  25.  Gem  of  the  Cabinet  de  France ,  No.  1,339.) 

3  Mirkhond,  Hist,  des  Sassanides,  tr.  Sylvestre  de  Sacy,  p.  278. 


Achaemenidae,  “  and  all  the  kings 


ARTAXERXES  I.2 


134  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  ISO  TO  235  a.  d. 


ical.  The  Arsacidae,  feeling  the  influence  of  the  civilization  which 
Alexander  had  carried  into  Eastern  Asia,  had  become  Hellenized. 
They  delighted  in  Greek  customs,  spoke  the  language  of  Greece, 
adored  some  of  its  gods,  were  accustomed  to  have  the  dramas  of 
the  great  Athenian  poets  represented  at  their  court,  and  in  the 
legends  on  their  coins,  which  were  in  Greek,  they  adopted,  among 
other  titles,  that  of  Philhellenes.1 2 3 


This  mental  culture  disposed  them 
to  tolerance,  and  Christianity  had 
profited  by  it  to  make  an  entrance 
into  their  provinces.  But  the  trib¬ 
utary  nations  had  preserved  the 
old  Persian  worship,  Mazdaeism ; 

consecrated  fire  was  always  burning  on 


<n>: 

SILVER  COIN  OF  ARTAXERXES.2 


the 


their  sacred  pyres, 
and  the  magi  were  numerous.  They 
served  the  cause  of  him  who  was  an¬ 
nounced  as  the  avenger  of  Ormuzd  and 
the  restorer  of  the  laws  of  Zoroaster. 
This  monotheistic  religion  —  one  of  those 
which  do  most  honor  to  humanity  —  placed 
below  the  infinite  being,  Aboura-Mazda, 
izeds,  or  good  genii,  celestial  spirits  and 
ministers  of  the  will  of  the  Most  High. 
Hence  it  did  not  require  much  flattery 
to  induce  the  magi  to  transform  a  power¬ 
ful  and  religious  king  into  a  visible  izecl ; 
and  Sapor  could  say,  without  giving 
offence :  “  Do  you  not  know  that  I  am  of  the  race  of  the  gods  ?  ” 4 
In  return  for  the  assistance  which  these  priests  gave  him, 
Ardishir  accorded  them  great  influence.  “  He  restored,”  says  a 


ORMUZD.3 


1  De  Sacy,  Mem.  sur  diverses  antiquite's  de  la  Perse,  p.  44. 

2  Coin  of  Artaxerxes,  bearing  on  the  reverse  a  lighted  pyre.  At  the  right,  the  head  of 
Artaxerxes,  with  the  tiara  bearing  the  star,  symbol  of  the  sun,  and  the  legend  :  “  The  Adorer 
of  Ormuzd.  .  .  .”  On  the  reverse,  a  pyre,  from  which  dart  flames.  Legend  :  “  The  Divine 
Artaxerxes.”  Silver  coin. 

3  The  bust  of  Ormuzd,  surrounded  by  flames  and  placed  on  a  pyre.  Pelilvi  inscription ; 
annulary  seal.  (Intaglio  on  veined  agate,  36  millim.  diameter;  Cabinet  de  France ,  No. 
1,336.) 

4  De  Sacy,  Me'moire,  etc.,  pp.  36-41.  On  the  monotheistic  character  of  Mazdaeism,  see  the 
articles  of  M.  Bartlielemy  Saint-IIilaire,  Journal  des  Savants,  June  and  July,  1878. 


ALEXANDER  SEVERUS,  222  TO  235  a.  d. 


135 


Greek  historian,  “  the  magi  to  honor.”  1  This  body  of  clergy,  again 
restored  to  power,  will  make  intolerance  the  political  law  of  the 
Sassanidae  and  will  let  persecution  loose  against  the  Christians ; 
the  religious  and  national  zeal  of  these  monarchs  was  able,  however, 
to  give  to  the  new  dynasty  a  vitality  and  renown  which  the  pre¬ 
ceding  had  not  known.2  The  danger  to  the  Roman  Empire  thus 
increasing  in  this  quarter,  Rome  was  presently  compelled  to  with¬ 
draw  her  forces  from  the  line  of  the  Rhine  and  the  Danube  in 
order  to  fortify  that  of  the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris ;  and  that  she 
might  watch  this  new  enemy  from  a  nearer  point,  she  ended  by 
displacing  the  centre  of  her  power,  and  removing  her  capital  from 
the  West  to  the  East. 

The  war  of  four  centuries  which  is  about  to  begin  between 
the  two  empires  is  therefore  one  of  those  many  wars  which 
religious  zeal  has  kindled.  It  is  characterized  at  first,  in  the  case 
of  both  nations,  by  revived  recollections  of  the  expedition  of 
Alexander,  —  characterized  on  one  side  by  admiration  and  reverence, 
on  the  other  by  the  bitterest  hatred.  We  have  seen  Caracalla 
honoring  the  memory  of  the  Macedonian  hero,  the  second  Severus 
taking  his  name,  and  the  legions  organizing  in  phalanx.  Men  felt 
the  shade  of  the  Greek  conqueror  would  march  before  the  Roman 
army  as  its  guide  on  the  road  to  Ctesiphon.  On  the  other  side 
of  the  Tigris,  this  Alexander,  whose  generous  soul  we  are  wont 
to  extol,  had  become  to  the  magi,  in  their  patriotic  and  religious 
lament,  “  the  accursed  one  ”  who  slaughtered  the  nobles  and 
priests,  who  “  burned  the  books  of  revelation,”  and  who  “  is  burn¬ 
ing,  in  his  turn,  in  eternal  flames.”  Even  to  this  day  the  Parsees 
never  speak  of  “  Iskender  Roumi  ”  except  as  an  accursed  tyrant. 
“  After  him,”  said  they,  “  religion  was  brought  low,  and  the  faithful 
into  oppression,  until  King  Ardishir  re-established  the  true  faith.”  3 
These  conflicting  sentiments  announce  the  importance  of  the 
struggle. 

1  ’Ef  ov  kcu  rracn.  Uepaacs  oi  Mayot  eViSo^oi  (Nicepli.,  Hist.  eccl.  i.  55,  ed.  of  1630); 
Agatliias  (vol.  ii.  pp.  64,  65)  thinks  the  same.  M.  de  Ilarlez  ( Avesta ,  p.  xxxv)  says  that 
Ardishir  was  of  the  race  of  the  magi,  and  himself  a  magus. 

2  On  their  coins  the  Sassanidae  assume  the  title  of  “  servant  of  Ormuzd,”  and  on  the  reverse 
they  have  placed  “  the  altar  of  fire,”  —  a  representation  and  title  which  are  found  on  the 
medals  of  the  Arsacidae.  See  De  Sacy,  Mem.  sur  diverses  antiq.  de  la  Perse,  pp.  171  et  seq. 

3  See  the  article  of  M.  James  Darmesteter,  La  Legende  d' Alexandre  chez  les  Perses,  in  vol. 
xxxv.  of  the  Bibliotheque  des  Hautes-Etudes. 


136  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


IV.  —  Expeditions  against  the  Persians  and  the  Germans  ; 

Death  of  Alexander  Severus 

Before  engaging  in  close  contest  with  the  great  Empire  of  the 
West,  the  son  of  Sassan  turned  his  weapons  against  the  neigh¬ 
boring  populations  of  Roman  Mesopotamia.  He  attacked  the  city 
of  Atra,  the  stronghold  of  the  Scenite  Arabs,  but  with  no  better 
fortune  than  Trajan  and  Severus  had  had  in  similar  attempts ; 
and  he  endeavored  to  overthrow  the  Arsacidae  of  Armenia,  who 
from  their  hill-tops  and  inaccessible  fortresses  defied  invasion. 
These  expeditions  doubtless  had  for  him  but  a  secondary  interest ; 
at  least  these  reverses  do  not  appear  to  have  lessened  his  hopes, 
and  in  231  he  invaded  the  Roman  province. 

At  this  news  Alexander  and  his  pacific  councillors  wrote  to 
the  Persian  a  beautiful  letter,  full  of  the  most  edifying  advice. 
The  ravages  continued ;  Nisibis  was  besieged,  and  the  enemy’s 
scouts  penetrated  as  far  as  Cappadocia.  “  All  these  lands  belong 
to  me,”  said  Ardishir ;  and  it  seemed  as  if  he  were  going  to  take 
them.  There  was  no  alternative  at  Rome  but  to  be  resigned  to 
war  ;  great  preparations  were  made,  and  from  each  province,  from 
each  army,  went  forth  detachments  on  their  way  towards  Syria. 
Alexander  quitted  his  capital  in  tears,  but  firmly  resolved  to  do 
his  duty,  if  not  as  a  soldier,  at  least  as  an  Emperor.1  He  took 
the  road  through  Illyria  and  Thrace,  collecting  soldiers  on  his 
march,  and  entered  Syria  with  a  large  army.  He  there  found 
the  troops  given  up  to  disorder  and  mutiny  ;  perhaps  there  had 
even  been  a  revolt,  if  the  proclamation  of  an  emperor  by  the 
army  of  Mesopotamia  may  be  referred  to  this  time.  On  the 
arrival  of  Alexander  and  reinforcements  sent  by  the  legions  of 
Pannonia,  all  became  quiet.  A  phalanx  of  thirty  thousand  men 
was  organized,  in  remembrance  of  the  phalanx  of  the  Macedonian 
hero ;  Alexander  even  would  have  his  guard  armed  with  cirgy- 
rcispides,  or  shields  of  silver.  Four  hundred  Persians,  with  splen¬ 
did  dress  and  weapons,  came  to  summon  the  Emperor  to  evacuate 
Asia ;  he  considered  the  demand  insolent,  and,  refusing  to  recog¬ 
nize  them  as  ambassadors,  shut  them  up  in  Phrygia,  where  villages 


1  Herodian  says  (vii.  2)  that  he  was  accused  of  indolence  and  timidity  in  war. 


ALEXANDER  SEVERUS,  222  TO  235  a.  d 


137 


and  lands  were  assigned  them,  and  then  entered  on  the  campaign 
in  232. 

From  this  point  accounts  differ.  According  to  a  contemporary, 
the  Emperor  divided  his  army  in¬ 
to  three  corps.  The  first  advanced 
through  Armenia,  —  a  country  in 
alliance  with  the  Romans,  —  intend¬ 
ing  thence  to  enter  the  territory  of 
the  Medes ;  the  second  went,  by  way 
of  the  desert,  towards  the  confluence 
of  the  Tigris  and  the  Euphrates, 
from  which  point  they  could  di¬ 
rectly  threaten  Persia ;  the  third 
marched  through  Upper  Mesopo¬ 
tamia,  but  very  slowly,  —  for  which 
Mamaea  is  held  responsible,  who 
feared  to  expose  her  son.  The 
armv  of  the  North  amassed  much 
booty,  —  suffering,  however,  consid¬ 
erable  losses,  and  without  obtaining 
any  serious  result,  because  this 
route  could  not  conduct  them  in¬ 
to  the  heart  of  the  new  empire. 

The  Persians  opposed  slight  forces 
to  this  somewhat  remote  attack ; 
they  massed  themselves  against  the 
army  of  the  South,  which  they 
crushed,  and  then  against  that  of 

.  ...  .  .  JULIA  MAMAEA  AS  VENUS  PUDICA.1 

the  centre,  which,  composed  m 

great  part  of  soldiers  accustomed,  on  the  banks  of  the  Danube 
and  the  Rhine,  to  cold  and  dampness,  was  prostrated  by  the  dry 
and  burning  heat  of  the  desert.  Under  this  climate,  which 
requires  sobriety,  “  the  Illyrians  ”  drank  and  ate  as  in  Germany. 
This  error  in  diet  was  extremely  fatal  to  them ;  the  mortality 
brought  on  the  plague,  and  it  became  necessary  to  fall  back,  after 


1  Museum  of  the  Louvre.  Statue  of  Pentelican  marble,  formerly  thought  to  represent 
Julia  Soaemias.  The  antique  head  is  reproduced;  the  attributes  of  Ceres  have  been  added 
by  a  modern  artist.  The  Empresses  were  often  represented  in  the  character  of  Venus.  The 
statues  in  the  “hall  of  the  Venuses  ”  in  the  Museum  of  Naples  are  portraits  rather  than 
ideal  figures. 


138  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


a  few  successes  of  doubtful  value.  Alexander  himself  fell  ill 
from  fatigue  and  anxiety.  As  in  the  time  of  Antony,  the  retreat 
of  the  army  of  the  North  across  the  mountains  of  Armenia  was 

disastrous,  and  Roman  corpses  again  strewed  the  roads  of  this 

country  in  the  year  233.  But  the  number  who  perished  was 

never  counted.  These  soldiers,  recruited  among  the  Barbarians1 
and  from  the  dregs  of  the  Roman  populace,  left  behind  them 
neither  relatives  nor  friends  to  lament  their  death ;  and  it  was 


DEAD  PERSIAN  WARRIOR.'2 


easy,  by  means  of  largesses,  to  persuade  the  survivors  that  the 
late  campaign  had  been  skilfully  planned  and  victorious. 

In  truth,  neither  side  was  defeated.  The  Persians  might 
congratulate  themselves  on  a  great  success ;  but  Mesopotamia, 
guarded  by  the  fortresses  of  Severus,  was  not  encroached  upon, 
and  not  a  foot  of  Roman  territory  had  been  conquered.  Moreover, 
if  they  had  exterminated  one  imperial  army,  and  had  stopped 
the  advance  of  another,  it  was  not  without  having  themselves 
lost  heavily.  Accordingly,  as  soon  as  the  danger  of  a  Roman 
invasion  had  disappeared,  their  irregular  troops  dispersed,  each 
carrying  home  his  booty.  However,  the  Persians  had  not  attained 
their  purpose,  and  the  Romans  had  accomplished  theirs.  Far  from 

1  The  army  which  Alexander  subsequently  led  into  Gaul  was  composed  of  Barbarians : 
Omnis  apparatus  .  .  .  potentissimus  quidem  per  Armenios  et  Osrhoenos  et  Parthos  et  omnis 
generis  hominum  (Lamprid.,  Alex.  61).  Herodian  (vi.  17)  adds  that  many  Moors  were  also 
found  in  it. 

2  Marble  of  the  Museum  of  Naples. 


ALEXANDER  SEVERUS,  222  TO  235  a.  d. 


139 


being  conquered,  Roman  Asia  had  been  delivered.  The  victory 
unquestionably  remained  with  those  who  had  obtained  the  result 
which  they  desired.  But  the  two  empires  had  come  into  collision 
once  more  without  either  of  them  crushing  the  other;  and  it  was 
destined  thus  to  continue  until  a  new  element,  —  the  religious  and 
aggressive  fanaticism  of  the  Arabs,  —  should  change  the  conditions 
of  the  struggle. 

The  second  account  is  a  hymn  of  triumph  for  the  Romans. 

Extract  from  the  acts  of  the  Senate,  the  seventh  day  before 
the  kalends  of  October  (Sept.  25,  233) ;  speech  of  the  Emperor : 

“  Conscript  Fathers,  we  have  vanquished  the  Persians.  A  long 
discourse  is  unnecessary ;  it  is  only  of  importance  that  you  should 
know  what  were  their  forces  and  their  pre¬ 
parations.  They  had  seven  hundred  elephants 
bearing  towers  filled  with  archers.  Of  these 
we  captured  three  hundred ;  two  hundred  were 
killed  on  the  spot ;  we  have  brought  eighteen 
to  Rome.  They  had  a  thousand  chariots  armed 
with  scythes :  we  might  have  brought  home 
two  hundred  of  them,  the  horses  of  which 
have  perished ;  but  we  did  not  think  it  necessary,  because  it  would 
be  easy  to  present  others  to  you.  We  have  defeated  a  hundred 
and  twenty  thousand  horsemen,  and  killed  during  the  war  ten 
thousand  of  their  cataphracti.2  We  have  captured  a  great 
number  of  Persians,  whom  we  have  sold.  We  have  reconquered 
.all  the  territory  which  is  between  the  two  rivers ;  namely,  Meso¬ 
potamia,  which  the  licentious  Elagabalus  had  allowed  to  be  lost. 
We  have  put  to  rout  this  king  Artaxerxes,  whom  his  renown  and 
his  forces  rendered  so  formidable ;  and  the  land  of  the  Persians 
has  witnessed  his  flight,  abandoning  his  ensigns  in  the  same 
localities  where  we  once  lost  ours.  This,  Conscript  Fathers,  is 
what  we  have  done.  The  soldiers  come  back  rich ;  victory  makes 
them  forget  their  fatigue.  It  is  for  you  now  to  decree  thanksgiv¬ 
ings  in  testimony  of  our  gratitude  to  the  gods.” 

1  Coin  commemorative  of  the  congiarium  given  by  Alexander  Severus.  LIBER ALIT AS 
AVGVSTI  V  SC.  Alexander  seated  upon  a  stage  ;  behind,  the  praetorian  prefect  and  a 
soldier ;  before,  Liberality ;  at  the  bottom,  a  citizen  mounting  the  steps.  (Large  bronze, 
Cohen,  No.  288.) 

2  Horsemen  covered  with  defensive  armor  from  head  to  foot ;  see  Amm.  Marcellin 
xvi.  10. 


U5 

CONGIARIUM. 1 


140  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


On  the  morrow,  in  honor  of  this  grand  success,  a  congiarium 
was  given  to  the  people,  and  the  Persian  games  were  celebrated. 
The  eighteen  elephants  which  were  displayed  there,  led  men  to 
believe  in  the  three  hundred  said  to  have  been  captured.1  There 
was  therefore  no  room  to  doubt  that  Rome  had  now  renewed 
the  glory  of  Severus  and  Trajan.2 

Certainly  Rome  had  need  that  this  bulletin  of  victory  should 
be  credited.  Germany  was  in  agitation.  Seeing  the  dismantling 
of  the.  camps  which  barred  the  road  into  Gaul  and  Illyria,  the 
Barbarians  had  found  the  occasion  propitious  for  renewing  their 
predatory  incursions.  For  a  long  while  the  frontier  of  the  Rhine 
had  ceased  to  be  threatened,  and  in  place  of  the  eight  legions 
which  the  first  Emperor  had  kept  here,  there  were  now  only  four. 
It  had  therefore  been  easy  for  the  Germans  to  pass  between  the 
remote  garrisons  and  ravage  Gaul.  Hence,  while  waiting  until 
the  Illyrians  came  back  from  the  East,  it  wras  well  to  have  their 
return  preceded  by  the  report  of  a  great  victory.  It  was  quite 
certain  that  the  words  pronounced  in  the  Senate  would  re-echo  on 
the  banks  of  the  Rhine. 

Several  months  were  employed  in  reorganizing  the  forces  of 
the  West,  and  in  234 3 * * * * 8  Alexander  set  out  for  Gaul.  After  reaching 
the  environs  of  Mayence  with  his  mother,  he  made  another  effort 


1  Perhaps  there  were  none  at  all.  Lampridius  (57)  speaks  of  a  triumphal  car  drawn 
by  four  elephants;  the  medals  show  only  a  chariot  and  four  horses  (Eckhel,  vii.  276).  On 
his  side,  Ardishir  attested  his  victory  to  his  subjects  by  causing  gold  coins  to  be  struck. 
The  Emperors  permitting  neither  the  provinces  nor  the  allies  to  utter  gold  coin,  the  aurei  with 
the  Emperor’s  effigy  were  alone  in  circulation ;  the  Roman  merchants  could  accept  no  others, 
and  all  trade  was  conducted  with  these  coins.  Procopius  relates  that  Justinian  declared  war 
against  the  Arabs  because  they  had  paid  the  tribute  in  pieces  of  gold  not  bearing  the  imperial 
effigy  (De  Bello  Goth.  iii.  33  ;  Zonaras,  xiv.  22).  In  the  interest  of  the  commercial  rela¬ 
tions  of  their  subjects,  the  Arsacidae  had  been  obliged  to  submit  to  this  necessity,  and  had  not 
coined  gold  money.  The  Sassanidae  coined  it,  but  in  small  quantity  (Mommsen,  Hist,  de  la 
monnaie  romaine,  tr.  Blacas,  p.  16). 

2  An  inscription  recently  deciphered  at  Kef  (Sicca  Veneria),  in  Tunis  (Bull,  e'pigr.  de  la 

Garde ,  1883,  p.  3),  mentions  an  offering  of  the  splendid lissimus  ordo  of  the  decurions,  Fortunae 

lleduci  Aug.,  for  the  triumphal  return  of  Alexander  Severus.  This  inscription,  together  with 
another  of  Pesth,  leads  us  to  think  that  Mamaea  had  accompanied  her  son  into  the  East,  as 

she  followed  him  in  the  expedition  against  the  Germans ;  this  persistence  of  the  “  avaricious 

mother  ”  in  remaining  always  with  the  young  Emperor  was  no  doubt  one  of  the  causes  of  the 

catastrophe  which  cost  both  of  them  their  lives. 

8  Profectio  Aug.  (Eckhel,  vii.  277).  Lampridius  (Alex.  60)  asserts  that  a  Druidess  told 
him,  Gallico  sermone,  not  to  expect  victory,  and  not  to  rely  on  his  soldiers.  The  Druids  had 
fallen  to  the  condition  of  mere  fortune-tellers.  It  is  known  that  Aurelian  and  Diocletian, 
consulted  them  to  learn  the  future. 


ALEXANDER  SEVERUS,  222  TO  235  a.  d. 


141 


to  avoid  war.  He  proposed  peace  to  the  Germans,  with  gold  and 
presents  of  all  kinds,  —  greatly  to  the  displeasure  of  his  soldiers, 
who  preferred  to  keep  this  gold  for  themselves.  In  the  army  there 
was  at  that  time  a  chief  named  Maximin,  a  native  of  the  most 
barbarous  part  of  Thrace.  At  first 
a  shepherd,  he  had  become  a  sol¬ 
dier  ;  and  his  lofty  stature  and 
strength  attracting  attention,  he 
had  risen  from  grade  to  grade  up 
to  the  command  of  the  new  levies, 
whose  drilling  Alexander  had  con¬ 
fided  to  him.  These  recruits  were 
for  the  most  part  rough  and  coarse 
Pannonians  like  himself,  but  wholly 
devoted  to  a  man  who  possessed 
the  same  merits  and  the  same  faults 
with  themselves,  and  on  the  con¬ 
trary  filled  with  contempt  for  the 
tranquil  virtues  of  the  Emperor. 

Furthermore,  they  were  of  opinion 
that  the  reign  of  Alexander  had 
lasted  long  enough  ;  that  the  recent 
war  had  impoverished  his  treasury, 
the  remainder  of  which  the  avarice 
of  Mamaea  kept  under  lock  and 
key ;  that,  in  short,  there  would  be 

every  advantage  in  a  change  of  . 

1/0  °  ALEXANDER  SEVERUS.1 

rulers,  since  the  new  one  would  pay 

richly  for  his  dignity,  especially  if  they  should  choose  Maximin, 
who,  without  noble  birth  or  illustrious  record,  would  owe  eveiy- 
thing  to  them.  Accordingly,  they  threw  a  purple  mantle  over  his 
shoulders  and  marched  in  arms  towards  the  Emperor’s  abode. 
At  their  approach,  Alexander  orders  his  guards  to  apprehend 
the  rebel.  They  hesitate,  then  refuse,  and  allow  the  assassins  to 
enter,  who  put  to  death  the  son  and  the  mother ; 2  or,  as  Hero- 


1  Statue  of  heroic  size,  of  Greek  marble  (Museum  of  Naples). 

2  In  the  seventeenth  century  there  was  discovered  at  Rome,  near  the  Porta  Maggiore,  a 
sarcophagus  which  has  been  supposed  to  be  that  of  .Alexander  Severus  and  Mamaea.  The 
bas-reliefs  below  the  figures  of  the  Emperor  and  his  mother  represent  :  the  quarrel  of 


142  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  ISO  TO  235  a.  d. 


dian  says,  “  the  parsimonious  woman  and  the  pusillanimous  boy.”  1 
Some  accounts  make  him  die  a  cowardly  death  (March  19,  235). 

Alexander  had  reigned  thirteen  years,  though  his  age  was  only 
twenty-six.2  He  is  the  last  of  the  Syrian  princes.  If  among  them 
we  reckon  Severus,  on  account  of  the  influence  exercised  over  him 
by  Julia  Domna,  this  dynasty  had  ruled  the  Empire  more  than 
forty  years,  —  a  brief  space  of  time,  which  was  marked  by  great 
events  and  bloody  tragedies,  and  during  which  completely  disap¬ 
peared  what  was  left  of  the  Roman  blood  and  spirit.  But  for  the 
jurisconsults,  who  preserved  the  especially  Roman  science  of  the 
law,  the  customs  and  beliefs  of  the  time  would  closely  resemble 
those  of  an  Asiatic  monarchy.  The  Empire  is  inclining  to  the 
Orient,  and  will  soon  be  lost  in  it. 

Alexander’s  respect  for  Abraham  and  for  Jesus,  and  the  for¬ 
mer  relations  of  his  mother  with  Origen,  had  rendered  him  favor¬ 
able  both  to  the  Jews  and  the  Christians.3  The  latter  enjoyed 
during  his  reign  a  profound  peace  and  a  sort  of  legal  existence. 
In  a  dispute  which  the  Church  at  Rome  had  with  certain  inn¬ 
keepers  in  the  matter  of  some  public  land,  he  pronounced  in  favor 
of  the  Christians.  “Better,”  said  he,  “that  this  spot  should  be¬ 
come  a  place  of  prayer  than  a  place  of  debauchery.” 4  He  had 
been  impressed  with  the  manner  in  which  the  Church  proceeded  at 
its  sacerdotal  elections,  and  at  one  time  thought  of  imitating  it 
for  the  functions  of  state.5  Of  this  design  there  remained,  as  we 
have  seen,  only  the  invitation  given  to  the  people  to  denounce  the 


Achilles  and  Agamemnon;  the  imprisonment  of  Chryseis;  Achilles  preparing  to  avenge  the 
death  of  Patroclus ;  and  Priam  begging  the  body  of  his  son.  This  sarcophagus,  represented 
on  the  opposite  page,  contained  what  is  known  as  the  Portland  Vase,  of  blue  glass  with  white 
ornaments,  now  in  the  British  Museum. 

1  Julian,  in  the  Caesars,  repeats  this  censure. 

2  Or  twenty-nine  years  and  some  months,  according  to  Lampridius.  There  are  doubts  as 
to  the  precise  date  of  his  death.  Eckhel  (Mi.  282)  inclines  to  the  beginning  of  July.  To  the 
reign  of  Alexander  is  referred  an  inscription  of  the  Fratres  Arvales  describing  a  curious  expi¬ 
atory  sacrifice  because  the  lightning  had  struck  down  some  trees  of  the  sacred  grove  of  the 
goddess  Dia.  Among  other  victims  immolated  ante  Caesareum  genio  d.  n.  Severi  Alexandri 
A  ug.  was  found  a  taurus  auratus ;  item  divis  num.  XX  ververices  XX.  These  divi  are,  from 
another  inscription  of  the  year  183  :  Augustus,  Julia  (Livia),  Claudius,  Poppaea,  Vespasian, 
Titus,  Nerva,  Trajan,  Hadrian,  Sabina,  Antoninus,  the  elder  Faustina,  L.  Verus,  Marcus 
Aurelius,  the  younger  Faustina,  and  later,  Commodus  himself,  Pertinax,  Severus,  and  Caracalla 
(Orelli,  No.  961,  after  Marini,  Atti  de’  fratelli  Arvali,  pi.  43,  p.  167). 

3  Lamprid.,  Alex.  22. 

4  Ibid.  49.  This  was  the  very  expression  of  the  Gospel :  Domus  mea  domus  orationis. 

5  Lamprid.,  Alex.  45. 


THE  PORTLAND  VASE 


F  0  0  X II  iN  THE  SARCOPHAGUS  OF  ALEXANDER  SEVER  US 


IFfoe  Ufctfaw- 

ef  the 

U«Jver*lty  oi  IIHiwfa. 


ALEXANDER  SEVERUS,  222  TO  235  a.  d. 


143 


crimes  of  candidates  proposed  for  office.  Lampridius  asserts  that 
Alexander  desired  to  build  a  temple  to  the  Christ  and  enroll  him 
in  the  ranks  of  the  gods,  and  that  the  priests  dissuaded  him  from 
it,  declaring,  on  the  faith  of  the  sacred  books,  that  if  he  executed 
this  project,  the  other  temples  would  be  abandoned.1  This  might 
be  said  to  Constantine,  but  not  to  the  son  of  Mamaea,  since  the 
Christians  at  that  time  were  not  sufficiently  numerous  to  inspire 
such  an  apprehension.  However,  they  profited  by  the  tolerance 
of  Alexander  to  build  their  first  churches,  which  are 
shortly  afterwards  mentioned  by  Origen.2 

Mamaea  has  also  been  represented  as  a  Chris¬ 
tian.  A  singular  Christian  was  this  Empress,  — 
called  on  her  coins  the  beneficent  Juno,  to  whom  the 
Senate  decreed  an  apotheosis,  and  for  whom  a  fes-  C0IN  OF  MA_ 

1  .  MAEA.3 

tival  was  instituted  which  the  pagans  celebrated  as 
late  as  the  fourth  centurv ! 4  Like  her  son,  she  desired  to  hear 
about  the  new  faith,5  and  many  others  had  the  same  curiosity. 
Eusebius  relates  that  a  governor  of  the  province  of  Arabia  re¬ 
quested  the  Bishop  of  Alexandria  and  the  prefect  of  Egypt  to 
send  Origen  to  him  to  give  him  information  concerning  the  new 
doctrines.6 

The  reign  of  this  young  and  unfortunate  Emperor,  to  whom,  in 
spite  of  his  weakness,  we  must  accord  a  peculiar  regard,  was  there¬ 
fore  the  moment  when  the  past  and  the  future,  the  two  great 
social  forces,  could  come  together  without  mingling,  and  live  in 
peace  until  a  transformation  should  be  effected.7  A  practical 
compromise  was  at  this  time  not  impossible  between  the  Empire, 
now  become  disdainful  of  its  old  divinities,  and  a  Christianity 

1  Id.,  ibid.  42. 

2  In  Matth.  horn,  xxviii.  Origen  says  that  they  were  burned,  —  probably  during  the  reign 
of  Maximin. 

8  Coin  of  Mamaea  in  the  likeness  of  Juno.  IVNO  CONSERVATRIX.  Juno  standing, 
holding  a  patera  and  a  sceptre  ;  a  peacock  is  at  her  feet.  Reverse  of  a  silver  coin. 

4  Lamprid.,  Alex.  26.  All  her  medals  are  pagan. 

5  Eusebius,  Hist.  eccl.  vi.  21. 

6  Id.,  ibid.  vi.  19. 

7  Zonaras  (xii.  16)  claims  that  there  were  many  Christians  at  the  court  of  Alexander: 

.  .  .  7roXXot  Kara  tov  ’AX.  olkov  rjaav  tov  Xpicrrbv  eireyvaKores  8e6v.  Mangold,  De  Ecclesia 
primaeva  pro  Caesaribus  ac  magistratibus  rom.  preces  fundente ,  1881,  thinks  that  in  the  first 
two  centuries  liturgical  prayers  for  the  Emperors  and  magistrates  were  said  in  the  Christian 
communities. 


144  THE  AFRICAN  AND  SYRIAN  PRINCES,  180  TO  235  a.  d. 


which  would  have  been  respectful  towards  the  established  or(Jer,  — 
the  one  accepting  religious  tolerance  as  its  rule  of  government, 
the  other,  satisfied  with  the  liberty  allowed  it,  continuing  peacea¬ 
bly  to  win  souls,  but  not  gaining  power  by  violence ;  making  con¬ 
quest  of  the  world  by  virtue  of  moral  truth,  and  not  as  a  victo¬ 
rious  party  establishing  itself  by  force  in  the  positions  whence  it 

has  dislodged  its  adversaries.  Unhappily,  the  revolutions  of  this 
world  are  not  thus  wisely  effected.  The  spirit  of  Tertullian  has 
replaced  in  the  Church  that  of  Clement,  and  in  the  State  the 

violent  will  also  succeed  the  peaceful.  On  both  sides,  force  will 

be  employed,  —  by  Diocletian,  in  the  name  of  the  gods ;  by  the 
successors  of  Constantine,  in  the  name  of  Christ ;  and  the  Empire 
will  be  shaken  to  its  foundations. 

1  This  Medusa  is  carved  on  the  outside  of  the  famous  cup  of  Oriental  sardonyx  known 
as  the  Tassa  Farnese.  It  was  found  near  the  Castle  of  Saint  Angelo  (Hadrian’s  Tomb)  or 
at  the  Tiburtine  Villa,  and  is  now  in  the  Museum  of  Naples. 


MEDUSA,  OR  AEGIS.1 


TWELFTH  PERIOD. 

MILITARY  ANARCHY  (235-268  a.  d.).  BEGINNING  OF 

THE  DECLINE. 


CHAPTER  XCIV. 

SEVEN  EMPEROKS  IN  FOURTEEN  YEARS  (235-249  A.D.). 

I. — Maximin  (235-238);  Gordian  I.  axd  Gopdian  II.;  Pupienus 

and  Balbinus  (238). 


S  the  Roman  aristocracy  and  the  provincial  nobles  abandoned 


military  service,  the  Barbarian  youth  entered  it,  and,  reaching 
the  higher  grades,  were  masters  of  the  troops  and,  consequently,  of 
the  Empire.  Thus  came  to  power  a  Thracian,  in  whose  veins 
flowed  the  blood  of  many  Barbaric  race£ 

Cains  Julius  Verus  Maximinus  by  his  father’s  side  belonged 
to  the  Getae ;  by  his  mother’s,  to  the  Alani.  When  Se verus,  on 
his  return  from  Asia  in  the  year  202,  traversed  Thrace,  he 
celebrated,  on  occasion  of  a  festival,  the  usual  military  games. 
Maximin,  whose  herculean  strength  had  made  him  famous  among 
his  comrades,  was  matched  against  some  of  the  Emperor’s  attendants, 
and  overthrew  sixteen  of  them  in  succession.  This  prowess  gained 
him  the  honor  of  being  at  once  enlisted  in  the  army.  Three  days 
later,  seeing  the  Emperor  pass  on  horseback  at  full  gallop,  he  kept 
pace  with  him  on  foot.  Severus  continued  the  race  for  some  time, 
then  proposed  to  him,  fatigued  as  he  was,  to  take  part  in  a  wrestling 
match.  Without  any  hesitation,  Maximin  threw  seven  of  the  most 
active  soldiers  one  after  another ;  and  upon  this  received  the  gold 
collar  and  was  admitted  to  the  guards.  The  new  Ajax,  who  was 

as  brave  as  he  was  strong,  rose  rapidly  through  the  grades ;  but 

10 


VOL.  VII. 


146 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


would  serve  neither  under  Macrinus,  who  had  killed  the  son  of 
his  benefactor,  nor  under  Elagabalus,  whom  he  despised,  —  two 
praiseworthy  sentiments  which  should  be  set  down  to  his  credit. 
He  re-entered  the  army  in  the  reign  of  Alexander,  who  made 


him  tribune,  with  the  rank  of  senator.  The  rest  of  the  story  is 
well  known.  Discontented  with  an  Emperor  whom  his  mother  held 
in  leading-strings,  the  troops  were  eager  to  have  a  true  soldier  at 
their  head,  and  they  made  choice  of  the  man  who  possessed  all  the 
physical  qualities  of  one,  —  strength,  agility,  and  dexterity.3  His 

1  Heroic  statue,  the  antique  head  preserved.  (Luni  marble;  from  the  Museum  of  Naples.) 

2  Statue  of  Greek  marble,  the  antique  head  restored. 

3  I  make  no  mention  of  the  extravagant  stories  of  his  strength  and  voracity.  They  are 
credible  only  on  the  supposition  that  Maximin  was  a  morbid  case  of  polyphagy,  of  which. 
L^tourneau  gives  such  curious  instances  in  his  Physiologie  des  passions. 


SEVEN  EMPERORS  IN  FOURTEEN  YEARS,  235  TO  249  a.  d.  147 


MAXIMUS,  CAESAR  AND  PRINCE  OF 
THE  YOUTH.'2 


son  Maximus,  not  yet  twenty  years  of  age,1  was  saluted  Caesar 
and  Prince  of  the  Roman  youth. 

The  extraordinary  fortune  to  which  Maximin  had  attained  did 

not  remove  from  his  mind  the  con¬ 
sciousness  of  his  own  unworthiness, 
and  placed  him  in  an  attitude  of  hos¬ 
tility  towards  all  who  possessed  what 
he  had  never  had,  —  ancestors,  a  name, 
education,  and  wealth.  He  dared  not 
appear  in  Rome.  This  city  full  of 
glorious  memories,  this  Senate  of  which  he  was  not  yet  a  member,3 
an  assembly  remaining  still  the  shadow  of 
a  great  reality,  intimidated  the  Barbarian. 

The  friends  and  councillors  of  Alexander, 
all  his  household,  and  among  this  number 
many  Christians,  were  at  once  put  to  death  ; 
soon  after,  a  conspiracy,  real  or  feigned, 
cost  the  life  of  Magnus,  a  man  of  consular 
rank,  and  of  several  other  persons.4  In 
the  army  were  many  troops  of  African  and 
Asiatic  origin,  —  Osrhoenian  and  Armenian 
archers,  Moors  armed  with  javelins,  Par- 
thians  who  had  fled  from  the  Persian 
dominion ;  and  all  were  devoted  to  the 
dynasty  which  had  arisen  out  of  Leptis  and 
Emesa.  The  favorite  of  the  Pannonians 
and  the  murderer  of  Alexander  was  doubly 
odious  to  them ;  it  was  their  desire  to 
overthrow  him  and  proclaim  as  Emperor, 
against  his  will,  an  ex-consul,  whom  one  of  his  friends  assassinated 
through  spite  at  not  having  had  the  preference  himself.  This 
murder  broke  up  the  rebellion  ;  new  victims  fell,  and  Maximin 
made  haste  to  seek  sanction  for  his  power  by  gaining  a  victory 
over  the  Germans. 


GERMANS  CONCEALING  THEM¬ 
SELVES  AMONG  RUSHES.5 


1  Maximus  was  killed  in  his  eighteenth  or  in  his  twenty-first  year  (Capit.,  Max.  1). 

2  MAXIMVS  CAES.  GERM.,  around  the  bare  head  of  the  prince.  On  the  reverse, 
PRINC.  IVVENTVTIS.  Maximus  standing,  holding  a  wand  and  a  javelin  ;  behind,  two 
standards.  (Silver  coin.  Cohen,  No.  4.) 

3  Neque  ipse  senator  esset  (Eutrop.,  ix.  1). 

4  Capitolinus  says  four  thousand  (Max.  10).  5  From  the  Column  of  Antoninus. 


148 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


These  Barbarians  made  no  resistance  to  a  serious  attack. 
Abandoning  to  the  Romans  their  harvests  and  their  wooden  houses, 
which  were  at  once  set  on  fire,  they  took  refuge  in  the  depths  of 
forests,  whither  they  believed  the  legions  would  not  dare  to  follow 
them,  and  in  marshes  through  which  they  alone  knew  the  way. 
Maximin,  however,  pursued  them  into  these  retreats,  killed  a  con¬ 
siderable  number  of  them,  and  sent  to  the  Senate,  with  his  letters' 
announcing  the  victory,  a  picture  representing  himself  as  fighting 
surrounded  by  enemies,  while  the  horse  upon  which  he  sits  is  half- 


buried  in  the  mud.  He  asserted 
that  he  had  ravaged  the  country 
over  a  space  of  four  hundred 
miles.  Other  wars,  of  which  we 
have  no  particulars,  gave  him 
the  titles  of  Dacicus  and  Sar- 
maticus.  From  Sirmium,  which 
he  had  made  the  centre  of  his 


MAXIMINUS  GERMANICUS.1 


operations,  he  commanded  the  line  of  the  Carpathians,  and  proposed 
to  penetrate  as  far  as  the  Northern  seas :  this  son  of  the  Goths 
was  desirous  of  crushing  that  Barbaric  world  whence  he  had 
himself  emerged.2 

A  design  like  this,  and  a  life  passed  in  the  camps  of  the 
Danube  in  rigorous  climates,  give  the  man  a  certain  savage  gran¬ 
deur.  But  the  senators  left  idle  in  the  curia,  the  languid  dwellers 
in  Rome,  Alexandria,  and  Antioch,  who  from  the  recesses  of  their 
luxurious  villas  could  not  discern  the  perils  that  the  North  con¬ 
cealed  in  its  mysterious  depths,  and  the  populace,  deprived  of 
their  wonted  pleasures,  were  indignant  at  the  affront  offered  to 
the  imperial  purple.  Maximin  was  called  the  Cyclops,  the  Busiris, 
the  wild  beast ;  men  openly  desired  his  death,  and  in  the  theatre 
verses  were  declaimed  like  these :  “  The  elephant  is  huge,  but  men 
kill  him ;  the  lion  is  strong,  but  men  kill  him ;  the  tiger  is  terrible, 
but  men  kill  him.  Beware  of  all,  thou  who  fearest  none ;  for 
what  one  alone  cannot  do,  many  together  can.”  The  rude  soldier 
gave  back  contempt  for  contempt  to  the  effeminate  revilers  whose 

1  Laurelled  head  of  Maximin.  On  the  reverse,  Maximin  and  his  son,  standing,  holding  a 
Victory.  Between  them,  two  kneeling  captives.  (Large  bronze  of  the  Cabinet  de  France .) 

2  In  256  he  assumed  the  title  of  Germanicus  (Eekhel,  vii.  291).  His  victories  over  the 
Germans  belong  therefore  to  that  year. 


SEVEN  EMPERORS  IN  FOURTEEN  YEARS,  235  TO  249  a.  d.  149 


hands  could  not  grasp  the  sword,  to  these  crowds  living  on  charity 
and  public  games,  who  had  never  seen  other  blood  flow  than  that 
of  gladiators,  while  the  Emperor  replied  by  sentences  of  death  to 
those  who  insulted  him.  Notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  the  Empress, 
who  strove  vainly  to  soften  his  savage  disposition,1  murders  and 
confiscations  multiplied,  and  hatred  increased  against  the  Thracian 
who  dared  to  say  openly  that  an  Empire  like  that  of  Rome  could 
be  governed  only  by  the  most  relentless  severity. 

This  hatred  Maximin  discerned  everywhere,  even  amidst  flat¬ 
teries  ;  and  his  cruelty  only  increased  in  consequence.  The  very 
persons  who  had  aided  his  fortunes  became  guilty  of  having  known 
his  humble  beginnings,  and  he  caused  these  embarrassing  witnesses 
of  his  obscurity  to  disappear.  As  there  was  safety  for  him 
nowhere  except  with  the  army,  he  gorged  it  with  gold  ;  and  the 
public  treasury  not  furnishing  enough,  he  pillaged  cities  and 
temples,  coined  the  statues  of  the  gods  into  money,  and  confiscated 
the  funds  set  apart  for  games  and  distributions.  Citizens  were  cut 
down  while  endeavoring  to  defend  the  statues  of  their  gods.  A 
catastrophe  was  becoming  inevitable,  and  an  eclipse  of  the  sun 
which  occurred  at  this  time  was  believed  to  announce  it. 

About  the  middle  of  February,  238, 2  an  insurrection  of  peasants 
broke  out  in  Africa.  One  of  the  most  obnoxious  of  the  agents  of 
this  fiscal  tyranny,  the  procurator  of  the  province  of  Carthage,  had 
condemned  many  landowners  of  Thysdrus  to  fines  which  were 
ruinous  to  them.  They  applied  for  a  delay  of  three  days,  and 
employed  that  time  in  calling  in  from  the  adjacent  country  their 
husbandmen,  who  entered  the  city  by  night,  armed  with  clubs  and 
hatchets  concealed  under  their  clothing.  At  break  of  day  the  con¬ 
spirators  with  this  band  attacked  the  dwelling  of  the  procurator. 


1  Amm.  Marcellinus,  xiv.  1. 

2  This  period  presents  chronological  difficulties,  which  have  however  been  removed  by 
Eckliel  (vii.  293-95)  and  Borghesi  (Sull’  imp.  Pupiafio,  in  his  Works,  v.  488  et  seq.),  and  espe¬ 
cially  by  L.  Renier.  In  the  latter’s  memoir  upon  the  inscriptions  of  the  Gordians  he  establishes, 
moreover,  that  Capellianus  was  in  command  in  Numidia,  and  not,  as  has  been  always  believed, 
in  Mauretania  ;  that  the  Third  Augustan  legion  was  disbanded  after  its  defeat ;  that  the  true 
name  of  Balbinus  was  Decimus  Caelius  Galvinus  Balbinus  (no  inscription  had  given  it  until 
that  of  Bouhira,  recently  discovered)  ;  that,  finally,  a  rescript  inserted  in  the  Code  (ii.  10,  2) 
proves  that  Pupienus  and  Balbinus  were  dead  by  the  tenth  before  the  kalends  of  July  (June 
22).  In  the  reorganization  of  Africa  by  Gordian  III.  the  Numidian  lieutenancy  was  suppressed, 
and  Caesarian  Mauretania  became,  and  remained  until  the  time  of  Valerian,  a  praetorian  pro¬ 
vince,  governed  by  a  legate  who  commanded  the  entire  army  in  the  African  provinces. 


150 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


killed  him,  and  then  hastening  to  the  dwelling  of  the  procunsul, 
who  was  at  this  time  in  Thysdrus,  they  invested  him  with  a 
purple  robe,  '  and,  in  spite  of  his  reluctance,  proclaimed  him 
Augustus.  Gordian  was  the  person  of  highest  rank  in  the  Empire. 
He  was  said  to  be  a  descendant  of  the  Gracchi ;  his  mother,  Ulpia 
Gordiana,  belonged  to  the  family  of  Trajan,  and  his  wife  was  the 


THYSDRUS  (EL-DJEM).1 


great-granddaughter  of  Antoninus  Pius.  He  was,  moreover,  a 
scholar,  a  poet,  and  a  man  of  integrity  ;  he  had  immense  wealth, 
but  he  was  eighty  years  of  age,  and  —  content  with  having  passed 
through  so  many  revolutions  without  loss  of  life  or  fortune  —  this 
assiduous  reader  of  Plato  and  Aristotle,  of  Cicero  and  Vergil,2 

1  View  of  a  circular  gallery  in  the  amphitheatre  or  colosseum. 

2  Gordian  had  composed  a  poetical  Antoniniad  Capitolinus  thus  describes  one  of  his 
palaces:  “  In  their  villa,  which  yet  stands  upon  the  Praenestine  road,  may  be  seen  a  tetrastyle 


SEVEN  EMPERORS  IN  FOURTEEN  YEARS,  235  T(D  249  a.  d.  151 

would  have  been  glad  to  end  his  days  peacefully.  But  the  choice 
was  not  allowed  him.  Moreover,  to  touch  the  imperial  purple, 
though  but  for  a  moment,  was  to  be  like  him  of  old  who  laid 
hand  upon  the  Ark,  —  his  life  must  be  the  penalty. 


THE  ELDER  GORDIAN.1 

Gordian  accepted ;  and  Carthage,  which  had  not  seen  an  Empe¬ 
ror  since  Hadrian,  received  with  transport  the  new  Augustus.  He 
associated  with  himself  his  son,  who  had  been  one  of  his  lieutenants, 
and  immediately  despatched  messengers  to  Rome  with  letters  for 

temple  of  two  hundred  columns,  of  which  fifty  are  of  Carystian  marble,  fifty  of  Claudian,  and 
fifty  of  Numidian ;  there  are  also  three  basilicas  a  hundred  feet  in  length,  and  thermae,  which 
are  surpassed  in  beauty  only  by  those  of  Rome”  ( Gord .,  32).  “While  aedile,  Gordian  gave 
at  his  own  expense  twelve  spectacles,  one  each  month,  where  gladiators  in  number  from  three 
hundred  to  a  thousand  were  engaged.  On  one  occasion  he  let  loose  in  the  amphitheatre  a 
hundred  wild  beasts  of  Libya;  another  time,  a  thousand  bears.  At  the  August  games  he  fur¬ 
nished  to  the  populace  two  hundred  stags,  thirty  wild  horses,  ten  elands,  a  hundred  Cyprus 
bulls,  three  hundred  ostriches,  thirty  wild  assess  a  hundred  and  fifty  wild  boars,  two  hundred 
chamois,  and  two  hundred  deer”  (Ibid.  3). 

1  Bust  of  the  Capitol,  Hall  of  the  Emperors,  No.  (14. 


city  that  Maximin  had  been  murdered  in  the  camp  in  Pannonia. 
The  prefect,  being  attacked  unawares,  was  stabbed  in  his  own 
tribunal.  In  his  letter  to  the  Senate,  Gordian  declared  that  he 
would  submit  to  the  decision  of  that  august  assembly.  Since  the 


152  MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 

the  consuls,  the  Senate,  the  people,  and  the  praetorians,  together 
with  assassins  to  murder  the  praetorian  prefect,  the  pitiless  agent 
of  Maximin’s  cruelties.  The  false  report  was  to  be  spread  in  the 


THE  YOUNGER  GORDIAN.1 


1  Bust  of  the  Capitol,  Hall  of  the  Emperors,  No.  65 


SEVEN  EMPERORS  IN  FOURTEEN  YEARS,  235  TO  249  a.  d.  153 


time  of  the  true  Antonines  the  Conscript  Fathers  had  not  heard 
language  like  this.  It  gave  them  courage ;  and  without  waiting  to 
see  whether  the  imperial  offices  were  really  vacant,  they  decreed 
them  to  the  two  Gordians,  father  and  son,  in  secret  session 1  (March, 
238).  The  people  were  for  once  of  the  same  mind  with  the 

Senate  :  a  ruler  who  scorned  to  come  to  Rome  appeared  to  them 
false  to  all  his  duties.  They  rejoiced,  therefore,  at  the  report  of 
Maxim  in’s  death,  and  welcomed  with  acclamations  the  Emperor 
whom  the  Fathers  had  given  them.  The  revolution  would  have 
failed  of  its  chief  interest  if  it  had  been  on  paper  only ;  a 
sanguinary  reaction  struck  down  the  officers  and  partisans  of  the 
Thracian,  together  with  the 
informers  who  had  served  his 
cruelty.  Men  of  all  ranks 
availed  themselves  of  this 
pretext  to  rid  themselves  of 
their  personal  enemies,  and 
debtors  to  murder  their  cred¬ 
itors.  The  prefect  of  the 
city  perished  in  one  of  these 
tumults. 

Meanwhile  messengers  had  been  sent  out  to  communicate  to  the 
provinces  the  movement  which  had  begun  at  Rome  and  Carthage. 
Despatches,  written  in  the  name  of  the  Senate  and  the  Roman 
people,  called  upon  the  nations  to  succor  the  common  country, 
and  acknowledge  the  two  rulers  who  had  just  freed  the  world  of 
a  wild  beast.3  Maximin  at  first  ridiculed  these  new  “Carthaginians,” 
and  promised  his  soldiers  that  this  revolt  of  the  Senate  should 
give  them  rich  booty.  There  was,  in  truth,  nothing  of  Hannibal 
in  the  Carthage  of  the  time ;  and  when  the  Numidian  legate, 
Capellianus,  arrived  from  Lambesa  and  Thevestes  with  his  legion, 

1  For  a  senatus-consultum  taciturn,  the  secretaries  and  attendants  —  all,  in  fact,  who  were 
not  senators  —  went  out  of  the  curia,  and  the  members  of  the  Senate  themselves  prepared 
the  reports  and  decrees. 

2  From  the  restoration  by  M.  Ch.  Robert,  in  vol.  iv.  of  Me'moires  de  la  Societe  archeolog. 
of  Bordeaux.  (Museum  of  Bordeaux.) 

3  The  letter  is  addressed  :  Proconsulibus,  praesidibus,  legatis,  ducibus,  tribunis,  magistrati- 
bus,  ac  singulis  civitatibus,  et  municipals  et  oppidis  et  vicis  et  castellis  (Capit.,  Max.  15).  The 
two  Maximins-were  at  the  same  time  declared  public  enemies,  and  a  reward  was  offered  to 
any  person  who  should  kill  them  (Ibid.  16). 


154  MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 

the  Third  Augustan,  the  citizens  who  had  come  out  to  oppose  him 
gave  way  at  sight  of  the  Numidian  horse,  and  in  their  precipitate 
flight  crushed  one  another  in  the  gates  of  the  city.1 2  The  younger 
Gordian  was  killed,  and  his  aged  father  in  despair  took  his  own 
life;  the  two  had  reigned  a  few  days  over  a  month.  This  news 
struck  consternation  at  Rome.  Embarked  in  so  terrible  an  enter- 


RUINS  OF  THE  TOMB  OF  THE  GORDIANS.2 


prise,  the  Senate  could  not  draw  back ;  it  was  compelled  to  be 
either  the  victim  or  the  executioner. 

Ideas  which  later  were  more  fully  developed  had  begun  at 
this  time  to  germinate.  In  the  time  of  Caracalla,  Herodian  had 
believed  that  a  division  of  the  Empire  was  possible.  In  the 
deliberation  which  took  place  after  the  arrival  of  the  news  from 
Africa,  a  senator  proposed  the  appointment  of  two  Emperors,  —  one 


1  Capitolinus  (Max.  19)  speaks,  however,  of  an  acerrima  pugna, 

2  From  a  photograph  by  Parker. 


SEVEN  EMPERORS  IN  FOURTEEN  YEARS,  235  TO  249  a.  d.  155 


to  remain  at  Rome  and  have  charge  of  civil  affairs,  the  other  to  be 
with  the  army  for  the  direction  of  military  operations :  we  have 
here  the  rough  sketch  of  Diocletian’s  system.  The  proposal  was 
well  received,  and  the  Senate  proclaimed  two  Augusti,  —  Pupienus,1 2 
a  military  man,  and  Balbinus,  who  had  won  honor  in  the  civil 
career.  To  render  their  powers  absolutely  equal,  the  office  and 

title  of  pontifex  maximus,  which  had  never  before  been  shared, 
was  given  to  both  ;  also  the  two  Gordians  were  pronounced  dim. 

A  great  crowd  had  gathered  outside  the  Capitol,  where  the 

Senate  was  in  session.  At 
the  news  of  the  decision  a 
violent  clamor  was  raised, 
especially  against  Pupienus, 
who,  as  governor  of  the 

city,  had  severely  repressed 
those  infractions  of  the  pub¬ 
lic  order  that  the  lower 
classes  so  readily  commit 
or  excuse.  Accordingly,  when  the  new  Emperors,  with  their  suite, 
attempted  to  take  possession  of  the  imperial  palace,  they  were 

driven  back  into  the  Capitol.  As  the  Gordians  were  extremely  rich, 

they  had  many  adherents,  who  had  ex¬ 
pected  to  derive  advantage  for  themselves 
from  the  reign  of  the  new  dynasty.  Of 
this  family  there  remained  a  boy,  —  grand¬ 
son,  through  his  mother,  of  the  proconsul 
of  Africa,3  —  who  was  now  in  Rome. 
Upon  the  elevation  of  his  grandfather 
and  uncle,  the  Senate  had  given  him  the  praetorship  and  the 

1  Their  names  were:  M.  Clodius  Pupienus  Maximus,  and  Decimus  Caelius  Balbinus. 
The  latter  claimed  descent  from  Balbus,  the  Spaniard,  the  friend  of  Pompey  and  Caesar. 

2  Medallion  of  bronze  of  the  two  Gordians,  proclaimed  divi,  struck  at  Aegae,  in  Cilicia, 
confirming  the  apotheosis  decreed  by  the  Senate  :  Quos  avibo  senatus  augustos  appellavit,  et 
posted  inter  divos  retulit.  On  the  obverse,  the  laurelled  heads  of  the  two  Gordians  facing  each  ^ 
other  ;  the  legend  (in  Greek)  :  The  Divine  Gordiani,  the  venerable  Roman,  African,  Au- 
gusti.  On  the  reverse,  an  eagle  upon  an  altar,  and  :  The  inhabitants  of  Aegae,  Severiani, 
Hadriani,  the  neocoros  city  (having  a  temple  of  the  Augusti),  the  navarchia  (having  a  marine 
arsenal),  in  the  year  of  Aegae  284  (238  a.  d.). 

8  An  Algerian  inscription  (L.  Renier,  No.  1,431)  calls  him  divi  Gordiani  nepos  et  divi 
Gordiani  sororis  films.  To  the  same  effect,  Herodian,  vii.  27. 

4  Silver  coin,  bearing  on  the  reverse  the  legend  :  PIETAS  AVGG.  (Cohen,  No.  73.) 


SILVER  COIN  OF  GORDIAN  III., 
CAESAR.4 


156 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  2C8  a.  d. 


title  of  Caesar,  although  he  was  but  twelve  years  of  age.  After 
the  African  disaster,  men  were  needed,  and  this  boy  was  for¬ 
gotten.  But  those  whose  interests  were  concerned  did  not  forget 


BALB1XUS.1 


him ;  they  instigated  the  mob,  who  by  their  clamor  forced  the 
Senate  to  renew  the  decree  naming  the  young  Gordian  Caesar. 

Rome  had  therefore  three  Emperors ;  but  she  had  also  civil 
war.  Maximin  had  left  in  the  city  only  a  few  praetorian  vete- 


1  Bust  of  the  Capitol. 


SEVEN  EMPERORS  IN  FOURTEEN  YEARS,  235  TO  249  a.  d.  157 


may  be  that  to  this  offence  they  added  some  insolence  of  demeanor, 
or  possibly  even  some  threatening  language  in  their  Emperor’s  name  : 
the  exact  offence  is  not  known ;  but  an  exasperated  senator  stabbed 
them  both,  then  rushing  out  into  the  open  square,  held  up  his  bloody 
dagger,  exclaiming  that  these  enemies  of  the  Senate  and  of  the 
Roman  people  must  perish.  The  crowd  fell  upon  the  praetorians 
who  chanced  to  be  in  the  city ;  many  were  killed,  and  the  remainder 

1  Bust  in  the  Museum  of  the  Louvre. 


rans ;  and  this  soldiery,  whose  insolence  we  have  often  mentioned, 
was  always  regarded  with  ill-will  by  the  nobles  and  the  populace. 
One  day  two  of  these  soldiers,  unarmed  and  as  spectators,  entering 
the  temple  where  the  Conscript  Fathers  were  deliberating,  passed 
beyond  the  altar  of  Victory,  —  a  serious  breach  of  etiquette.  It 


MAXIMIN.1 


slaughter  among  their  assailants.  To  restore  peace,  Balbinus  spared 
neither  edicts  nor  entreaties ;  but  he  was  driven  out  of  the  fray 
with  sticks  and  stones,  —  without,  however,  receiving  any  intentional 
injury.  The  affair  was  a  private  quarrel  between  town  and  camp, 


PUPIENUS.1 


158  MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


shut  themselves  up  in  their  camp,  which  the  gladiators  belonging 
to  the  nobles  vainly  sought  to  carry  by  assault.  The  veterans 
made  a  strong  resistance,  and  at  times  sallied  out,  making  great 


1  Bust  in  the  Museum  of  the  Louvre 


SEVEN  EMPERORS  IN  FOURTEEN  YEARS,  235  TO  249  a.  d.  159 

of  a  kind  frequently  seen  before  and  since,  in  military  governments. 
The  citizens  finally  cut  off  the  water-supply  of  the  camp,  hoping 
thereby  to  force  the  praetorians  to  open  their  gates.  The  latter  did 
indeed  open  them;  but  it  was  to  fall  upon  the  mob  with  levelled 
pikes,  and  pursue  them  into  the  city,  where  the  fight  went  on. 
Assailed  in  the  narrow  streets  by  stones  hurled  from  the  roofs, 
the  praetorians  set  fire  to  the  houses;  and  while  the  conflagration 
raged,  soldiers  and  populace  became  reconciled,  uniting  to  plunder 
whatever  the  flames  had  spared.  A  great  part  of  the  city  was 
thus  destroyed. 

Maximin  now  found  himself  in  the  position  in  which  Severus 
had  been  forty-five  years  before  ;  but  he  did  not  show  the  prudence 
of  the  African  Emperor,  and  his  army,  having  no  supplies  awaiting 
them  along  the  road,  advanced  slowly.  It  is  true  that  the  dispo¬ 
sition  of  the  provincials  was  no  longer  the  same :  the  inhabitants 
fled  at  the  approach  of  Maximin  and  his  Barbarians,  and  there  were 
neither  men  nor  provisions  left  in  the  cities  which  he  entered.1 

The  Senate  had  time,  therefore,  to  raise  troops  in  Italy,  to 
fortify  positions,  and  to  cut  the  roads.  The  fleet  of  Ravenna  had 
carried  off  or  destroyed  all  the  coasting  vessels,  and  allowed  no  sup¬ 
plies  to  arrive  by  way  of  the  Adriatic  for  the  army  of  Pannonia.2 
Twenty  men  of  consular  rank  divided  Italy  among  themselves, 
making  it,  so  to  speak,  a  fortress ;  and  from  Ravenna,  where  he 
had  collected  his  army,  Pupienus  directed  the  movements  of  all. 
This  city,  the  Venice  of  the  Romans,  afforded  him  an  excellent 
strategic  position.  Thence  he  kept  guard  over  Upper  Italy  and 
the  lower  course  of  its  two  great  rivers,  the  Po  and  the  Adige  ; 
his  fleet  gave  him  communication  with  Aquileia,  and  he  covered 
the  road  to  Rome.  The  Italians  cordially  aided  his  preparations ; 
they  felt  that  they  were  about  to  fight  for  the  old  renown  of 
Italy  against  a  fresh  invasion  of  the  Cimbri.  The  gods  were  made 
to  speak :  in  Aquileia  the  auspices  declared  that  Belenus  promised 
success.3  Moreover,  good  news  came  in  from  the  provinces.  Most 
of  them  had  declared  for  the  Senate,  and  the  legions  which 
remained  faithful,  especially  those  of  the  Rhine,  where  Pupienus 
had  been  in  command,  sent  detachments  which  enabled  him  to^ 

1  Sublatis  omnibus  quae  victum  praebere possent  (Capit.,  Max.  21). 

2  Capit.,  Max.  23.  3  Id.,  ibid.  22 ;  Herod.,  viii.  7. 


160 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


officer  a  considerable  number  of  recruits.  In  Africa,  Capellianus, 
after  his  victory  at  Carthage,  had  pillaged  the  province  to  enrich 
his  soldiers,  to  prepare  his  own  way  to  the  imperial  power  if 
Maximin  should  be  overthrown.1 2  But  the  governor  of  Mauretania 


SARCOPHAGUS  OF  A  CENTURION  OF  THE  THIRD  AUGUSTAN  LEGION.2 


defeated  and  killed  him ;  the  Third  Augustan  legion  was  disbanded, 
its  name  effaced  from  the  monuments  it  had  erected,  and  the 
other  troops  were  sent  into  Rhaetia.3  Maximin  therefore  remained 
isolated.4 

1  Capit.,  Max.  19.  Cf.  L.  Renier,  lnscr.  dd'Alg.  No.  3,177. 

2  White  marble,  found  among  the  tombs  along  the  Appian  Way.  (From  the  Museum  of 

the  Louvre.)  It  represents  eleven  Loves  forging  arms,  in  allusion  to  the  employment  of  the 
centurion:  BLAERA  VITALIS  >  [centurio]  LEG.  III.  AYG.  B.  M.  M.  D.  [Rene  A/erenti 
Afater  Dedit?].  (C.  7.  L.  vol.  vi.  No.  3,645.)  “  The  artists  of  the  Roman  epoch  were  accus¬ 

tomed  to  treat  religious  traditions  lightly,  and  attribute  to  Loves  or  to  children  certain  occupa¬ 
tions  which  in  reality  belong  only  to  grown  men.  Tn  this  class  of  ideas  the  sarcophagus 
under  consideration  is  one  of  the  most  instructive  ”  (Frohner,  Notice ,  etc.,  No.  341,  and  p.  321 ; 
also  Henry  d’Escamps,  Descr.  des  marbres  du  Musee  Camp.  pi.  108). 

3  This  legion  was  reconstituted,  about  the  year  253,  in  the  reign  of  Valerian,  whom  it, 
with  the  whole  Rhaetian  army,  had  aided  in  obtaining  the  imperial  power. 

4  •  .  .  Orbem  terrarum  consensisse  in  odium  Maximini  (Capit.,  Max.  23). 


SEVEN  EMPERORS  IN  FOURTEEN  YEARS,  235  TO  249  a.  d.  161 


When  he  reached  the  banks  of  the  Isonzo,  the  torrent,  swelled 
by  the  melting  of  the  snows,  rolled  broad  and  rapid,  and  the  fine 
stone  bridge  which  spanned  it  had  been  broken  down.  Here  the 
army  was  detained  for  several  days  while  rafts  were  constructed 
from  casks  and  planks  found  in  the  deserted  houses. 

On  the  opposite  side,  some  miles  distant  from  the  stream,  was 
Aquileia,  the  real  gateway  into  Italy  on  the  northeast.  Whether 
Maximin  took  it,  or  whether  its  inhabitants  allowed  him  to 
traverse  it  with  his  famished  hordes,  in  either  case  the  great 
and  wealthy  city  would  be  ruined.  Accordingly,  these  descend¬ 
ants  of  Roman  colonists  resolved  to  make  a  desperate  resistance. 
They  closed  the  gaps  in  their  walls,  amassed  immense  quantities 
of  provisions,  and  forged  weapons  and  engines  of  war.  The  women, 
copying  famous  examples,  gave  their  hair  to  make  rope,  —  an  act 
consecrated  by  a  temple  built  in  Rome  to  the  Venus  of  the  shaven 
head.  Two  ex-consuls  —  one  formerly  a  dux  in  Moesia  and  a  very 
able  soldier  —  conducted  the  defence.  There  were  but  few  troops 
in  the  city ;  but  all  the  inhabitants  enrolled  themselves  as  a  garri¬ 
son,  and  the  bravest  men  from  the  adjacent  country  had  thrown 
themselves  into  the  place. 

All  the  attacks  made  upon  the  city  were  unsuccessful ;  all 
attempts  to  take  it  by  storm  failed ;  a  rain  of  burning  pitch  ar¬ 
rested  the  advance  of  the  hostile  columns,  and  blazing  darts  shot 
from  the  balistae  on  the  walls  set  on  fire  the  siege-machines. 
Maximin  avenged  himself  for  these  repeated  defeats  by  putting 
to  death  the  officers  who  had  so  unsuccessfully  conducted  the 
operations.  Great  indignation  was  aroused  at  these  unjust  punish¬ 
ments  ;  provisions,  moreover,  were  lacking,  the  army  saw  neither 
supplies  nor  succor  come  to  it,  the  whole  Empire  appeared  to  be 
hostile,  and  the  Emperor  was  not  one  of  those  leaders  who  give 
their  soldiers  courage  to  fight  against  a  world. 

The  legionaries  of  the  Second  Parthica  were  the  most  uneasy. 
Their  wives  and  children  and  all  that  they  possessed,  being  left  at 
Albanum,  were  at  the  mercy  of  the  enemy.  To  save  their  own 
families,  the  soldiers  murdered  Maximin  and  his  son.  This  Em¬ 
peror’s  reign  had  lasted  three  years  and  a  few  days  (238).1 

1  Maximin  was  sixty-five  years  of  age  ( Chron .  d’AIex.,  ad  ann.  238,  and  Zonaras,  Ann. 
xii.  16).  The  ecclesiastical  writers  (Euseb.,  Hist.  eccl.  vi.  28)  place  in  his  reign  a  persecu¬ 
tion,  which  they  call  the  sixth.  Sulpicius  Severus  makes  no  mention  of  this ;  he  speaks  only 

VOL.  VII.  11 


162 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


The  army  then  demanded  entrance  into  the  city  ;  but  the  peo¬ 
ple  of  Aquileia  would  not  agree  to  this  proposal.  They  let  down 
provisions  from  their  walls,  requiring  pay  for  them,  and  also 
opened  markets  at  their  gates ;  and  the  strange  sight  was  seen  of 
the  besieged  supplying  their  besiegers  with  food.  Pupienus,  coming 


EQUESTRIAN  STATUE  OF  AN  EMPEROR  CROWNED  WITH  LAUREL.1 


in  all  haste  from  Ravenna  to  this  army  destitute  of  a  chief,  re¬ 
ceived  their  oaths  of  fidelity  to  the  three  Emperors  of  Rome,  and 
sent  the  troops  away  to  their  encampments,  after  having,  as  was 
usual,  paid  liberally  the  price  of  blood. 

While  these  events  were  taking  place  the  Senate  had  lived  from 
day  to  day  in  the  anxiety  of  a  man  who  sees  the  knife  at  his  throat. 


(Hist.  sacr.  ii.  16)  of  a  few  priests  who  were  persecuted  .  .  .  Nonnullarum  ecclesiarum  cleri- 
cos  vexavit.  The  persecution  was  probably  limited  to  some  local  oppression  ;  in  Cappadocia, 
for  instance,  of  which  Firmilianus  was  bishop.  Cf.  Cyprian,  Ep.  75  :  Erat  transeundi  facultas 
en  quod  persecutio  ilia  non  per  toturn  mundum ,  sed  localis  fuisset  .  .  .  ut  per  Cappadociam  et 
Pontum ;  and  the  Church  has  no  authentic  martyrs  in  this  reign.  Eusebius  mentions  not 
one. 

1  Guattani,  1786,  and  Clarac,  pi.  967,  No.  2,497. 


SEVEN  EMPERORS  IN  FOURTEEN  YEARS,  235  TO  249  a.  d.  163 


Therefore  their  joy  was  as  extreme  as  had  been  their  terror,  and 
they  testified  it  by  a  great  display  of  gratitude  towards  the  gods 
and  the  Emperors,  —  to  the  former,  solemn  thanksgivings  and  heca¬ 
tombs  of  victims ;  to  the  latter,  —  victors  without  a  battle,  — 
trophies,  triumphal  chariots,  gilded  equestrian  statues,  and,  by  way 
of  novelty,  statues  carried  by  elephants. 

When  the  noise  of  the  acclamations  had  ceased,  and  the  flames 
of  the  sacrifices  died  away,  Pupienus  calmly  examined  the  situa¬ 
tion,  and  found  it  still  full  of  danger.  “What  do  you  expect  will 
be  our  recompense  for  having  delivered  Rome  from  a  monster  ?  ” 
he  asked  his  colleague.  “The  love  of  the  people,  of  the  Senate, 
and  of  the  whole  human  race,” 

Balbinus  replied  with  simplic¬ 
ity.  “  Our  recompense  will 
be,”  the  old  general  said,  “the 
hatred  of  the  soldiers.”  And 
this  anticipation  was  well 
founded. 

TUPIENUS  AND  THE  PUBLIC  PEACE.1 

lhe  two  Emperors  at  first 

lived  on  terms  of  cordial  friendliness.  To  attest  their  harmony,  they 
caused  coins  to  be  struck  representing  two  hands  clasped,  with  the 
legend  :  Patres  senatus ,  amor  mutuus ;  also  this  :  Fides 
mutuad  But  Balbinus  regarded  Pupienus  with  con¬ 
tempt  on  account  of  his  obscure  birth,  the  latter  de¬ 
spised  his  colleague’s  weakness,  and  after  a  few  days 
distrust  sprang  up  between  them.  It  was  hardly 
possible  that  the  combination  devised  by  the  Senate 
could  have  had  any  other  result,  or  that  this  result 
should  not  bring  about  a  catastrophe.  The  praetorians  with  silent 
displeasure  endured  “the  Senate’s  Emperors;”  and  their  hatred  in¬ 
creased  with  the  homage  paid  by  the  Conscript  Fathers  to  the 
men  of  their  own  choice.  The  soldiers  feared  lest  there  might  be 
employed  against  them  the  same  measures  which  Severus  had 
adopted  in  the  case  of  the  praetorians  of  Julianus.  In  a  senatus- 
consultum  these  imprudent  words  had  been  used :  “  Thus  act  those 

1  IMP.  CAES.  PVPIEN[us]  MAXIMVS  AVG.,  around  the  laurelled  head  of  the 
Emperor.  On  the  reverse,  PAX  PVBLICA  SC.  and  Peace,  seated.  (Large  bronze.) 

2  Eckhel,  vii.  305. 

3  Two  hands  clasped,  with  the  legend  :  PATRAS  SENATVS. 


SILVER  COIN  OF 
PUPIENUS.3 


164 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


rulers  appointed  by  wise  men ;  thus  perish  the  rulers  chosen  by 
the  inexperienced.”  1  This  was  an  insult,  and  the  soldiers  took  it 

up.  On  an  occasion  when 
some  public  games  had 
drawn  away  from  the  palace 
a  large  number  of  its  usual 
guards,  the  praetorians  has¬ 
tened  thither.  Pupienus  was 
anxious  at  once  to  sum¬ 
mon  the  German  guard. 
Balbinus,  suspecting  treachery  on  the  part  of  his  colleague,  refused 
to  allow  it  to  be  sent  for.  While  the  two  Emperors  were  disput¬ 
ing,  the  praetorians  forced  the  gates,  seized  them  both,  and 
dragged  them  through  the  city  with  every  insult,  crying :  “  Behold 
the  Emperors  of  the  Senate  and  the  Roman  people !  ” 3  It  was 
their  intention  to  carry  their  prisoners  to  the  camp  and  put  them 
to  death  with  slow  tortures.  But  the  German  guard  coming  up, 
the  praetorians  murdered  the  two  Emperors  at  once,  and  left 
their  dead  bodies  in  the  open  street  (June,  238). 

Less  than  five  months  had  sufficed  for  the  triple  tragedy  of 

which  Rome,  Carthage,  and  the  camp  of  Aquileia  had  been  the 

theatre.  The  senatorial  restoration  had  lasted  just  long  enough  to 

give  the  soldiery  time  to  recover  from  the  surprise  this  audacious 

attempt  had  caused  them,  and  could  last  no  longer,  for  the  Senate 

had  neither  material  nor  moral  force ;  the  power  was  elsewhere. 

* 

From  Commodus  to  Diocletian,  the  true  masters  of  the  Empire 
were  the  soldiers ;  and  the  evils  of  this  domination  were  only  for  the 
moment  averted  when  the  army  had  at  its  head  chiefs  at  once 

1  Herod.,  viii.  21. 

2  IMP.  CAES.  D[ecimus]  CAEL[ius]  BALBINVS  AVG.,  and  the  laurelled  head  of 
Balbinus.  On  the  reverse,  LIBERALITAS  AVGVSTORVM  SC.  Balbinus,  Pupienus,  and 
Gordian  III.  seated  on  a  platform.  Liberalitas  standing  ;  a  citizen  ascending  the  steps. 

3  With  the  reign  of  Pupienus  and  Balbinus  ends  the  work  of  Ilerodian,  which,  notwith¬ 
standing  all  its  faults,  is  very  useful  for  this  epoch,  so  poor  in  historians.  In  the  year  238  we 
find  the  publication  of  the  book  by  Censorinus,  De  Die  natali.  About  this  time  also  Commo- 
dianus,  the  oldest  of  the  Christian  poets,  wrote  his  Instructions,  —  eighty  pieces  of  barbarous 
verse.  His  Carmen  apologeticum  belongs  to  the  year  249.  Gennadius  {De  Script,  eccles.  15) 
says  of  this  author:  .  .  .  Scripsit,  mediocri  sermone  quasi  versu,  librum  adversus paganos.  Et 
quia  parum  nostrarum  attigerat  litterarum,  magis  illorum  destruere  potuit  dogmata  quam  nostra 
Jirmare.  The  initial  letters  of  the  twenty-six  last  verses  form  these  words :  Commodianus 
mendicus  Christi.  Another  of  these  acrostics,  in  barbarous  prosody  and  metre,  is  found  in  an 
Algerian  inscription  (L.  Renier,  No.  2,074). 


HEROIC  STATUE  OF  PUPIENUS 


(museum  of  the  louvre;. 


i 


Fbe  library 
«<  the 
Ssft&nsr»ity  oi  IIWwoU 


SEVEN  EMPERORS  IN  FOURTEEN  YEARS,  235  TO  249  a.  d.  165 


able  and  strong,  like  Severus,  Aurelian,  and  Probus.  The  organi¬ 
zation  of  the  Empire  was  such  that  it  required  for  prosperity  a 
strong  hand  always  at  the  helm ;  but  Nature  is  not  so  lavish  of 
great  men,  and  human  wisdom  had  not  by  good  institutions  sup¬ 
plied  what  Nature  did  not  give. 


II.  — Gordian  III.  (238-244). 


Within  a  few  months  six  Emperors  had  perished,  and  only  a 
boy  was  left,  Gordian  III.1  The  murderers  carried  him  away  with 
them  to  the  camp.  Not 
long  before,  they  had 
made  him  Caesar  through 
hatred  of  Pupienus  and 
Balbinus ;  now  that  he 
was  left  alone,  they  pro¬ 
claimed  him  Augustus : 
a  ruler  twelve  or  thirteen 
years  old  was  the  chief 
who  suited  them  best. 

The  Empire,  wearied  out 
with  so  many  tumults, 
remained  tranquil  for  a 
few  years.  There  is  men¬ 
tioned  only  an  insurrec¬ 
tion  in  Africa,  which  was 
quickly  suppressed  by  the 
governor  of  Caesarian 
Mauretania  (240). 2  But 
affairs  at  court  went 
badly.  Gordian  II.  had 
had  as  many  as  twenty- 

^  J  GORDIAN  III.3 

two  concubines  ;  to  guard 

this  harem  he  had  adopted  the  Oriental  method  of  employing 


1  “He  is  said  by  most  authorities  to  have  been  eleven  years  of  age,  but  some  consider  him 
thirteen,  and  Junius  Cordus  believes  that  he  was  sixteen  ”  (Capit.,  Gord.  22). 

2  L.  Renier,  Itiscr.  d’Alg.  99,  and  G.  I.  L.  vol.  vi.  No.  1,090. 

3  Luni  marble  ;  bust  in  the  Museum  of  the  Louvre. 


166 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


eunuchs,  and  his  nephew  came  into  possession  of  this  dangerous 
household.  Ill-defended  by  his  mother  against  them  and  against 
the  freedmen,  Gordian  allowed  them  to  be  masters  of  the  palace 
and  the  treasury,  which  they  plundered  at  will.  Their  sway  lasted 
till  241  or  242 ;  at  this  period  the  young  Emperor  married 
Tranquillina,  the  daughter  of  Timesitheus,  and  appointed  his 
father-in-law  praetorian  prefect.1 

This  Timesitheus,  who  had  filled  with  integrity  important  finan¬ 
cial  positions,  and  many  times  served  as  governor  of  a  province 

(vice  praesiclis ),  proved  to  be  a  man 
of  much  ability ;  and  he  thrust 
back  into  obscurity  those  who 
ought  never  to  have  emerged 
thence.  One  of  his  letters  to 
Gordian  shows  the  extent  of  the 
evil  and  the  vigor  of  the  remedy : 
“  To  Augustus,  my  master  and 
my  son,  Timesitheus  his  father-in- 
law  and  prefect.  We  rejoice  to 
see  that  you  have  escaped  from 
the  disgrace  of  the  period  when 
eunuchs  and  men  whom  you 
regarded  as  friends  trafficked  in¬ 
famously  in  all  things.  Our  re¬ 
joicing  is  the  greater  in  that  you 
yourself  applaud  this  fortunate 
change,  which  proves  also,  my 
respected  son,  that  you  were  not 
to  blame  for  these  abuses.  It 
could  not  indeed  be  endured  longer 
that  eunuchs  should  dispose  of 
military  commands  ;  that  honorable 

THE  EMPRESS  TRANQUILLINA  AS  CERES.2  •  i  in 

services  should  be  left  unrewarded ; 
that  the  caprice  or  interest  of  a  few  men  should  cause  the  innocent 
to  perish,  and  leave  the  guilty  at  liberty;  that  the  treasury  should 
be  emptied  by  those  who  were  constantly  scheming  to  prejudice 


1  C.  Furius  Sabinius  Aquila  Timesitheus  (Spon,  Antiq.  de  Lyon,  edition  of  1857,  p.  1631- 
See  his  cursus  hononim  in  De  Boissieu’s  Inscr.  de  Lyon,  p.  245. 

2  Statue  in  the  Museum  of  the  Louvre  ;  Parian  marble. 


SEVEN  EMPERORS  IN  FOURTEEN  YEARS,  235  TO  249  a.  d.  167 

» 


you  against  the  best  citizens,  who  were  bringing  the  wicked  for¬ 
ward  and  driving  good  men  away,  and  trafficked  in  the  very  words 
that  they  themselves  ascribed  to  you.  Let  us  therefore  thank  the 
gods  who  have  given  you  the  will  to  heal  the  woes  of  the  state. 
It  is  pleasing  to  be  the  father-in-law  of  a  ruler  who  seeks  to 
understand  all  things,  and  drives  from  his  presence  the  men  by 
whom  he  himself  seemed  formerly  to  be  offered  for  public  sale.” 

To  this  letter  Gordian  replied :  “  The  Emperor  Gordianus 

Augustus  to  Timesitheus,  his  father  and  prefect.  If  the  mighty 
gods  did  not  protect  the  Roman  Empire,  we  should  still  be,  as 
it  were,  exposed  for  sale  by  the  eunuchs,  themselves  bought  in 
the  public  markets.  .  I  at  last  understand  that  it  is  not  a  Felix 
whom  I  ought  to  have  placed  at  the  head  of  the  praetorian  co¬ 
horts,  nor  a  Serapammon  in  command  of  the  Fourth  legion,  and — 
not  to  enumerate  in  detail  —  that  I  ought  not  to  have  done  many 
things  that  I  have  done.  But  I  render  thanks  to  the  gods 


that  you,  whose  fidelity  is 
well  known,  have  taught 
me  what  the  captivity  in 
which  I  was  held  had 
prevented  me  from  under¬ 
standing.  What  could  I 
do  when  Maurus  sold  the 
government,  and  when, 
acting  in  concert  with 
Gaudianus,  Reverendus,  and  Montanus,  he  praised  some  men  and 
blamed  others?  What  could  I  do  but  approve  what  he  had  told 
me,  it  being  also  confirmed  by  the  testimony  of  his  accomplices  ? 
In  truth,  my  dear  father,  an  Emperor  is  very  unfortunate  when  the 
truth  is  concealed  from  him.  He  cannot  go  out  and  learn  it  for 
himself,  and  he  is  obliged  to  hear  what  he  is  told,  and  to  decide 
according  to  the  information  men  bring  him.” 


COIN  OF  TRANQUILLINA.2 


Timesitheus  was  not  only  renowned  for  his  eloquence  and 
integrity,  but  also,  when  the  occasion  required,  he  could  show 
himself  a  good  general.  He  caused  the  fortifications  of  cities  and 
frontiers  to  be  repaired,  and  collected  vast  quantities  of  provisions 


1  SABINIA  TRANQVILLTNA  AVG.,  surrounding  the  bust  of  the  Empress.  On  the 
reverse,  FELICITAS  TEMPORVM  SC.  Felicitas  standing. 


168 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


in  these  strongholds,  so  that  the  armies  could  be  supplied  from 
them  in  case  of  need.  The  posts  of  the  first  importance  were 
supplied  with  a  year’s  stores  of  corn,  salted  pork,  vinegar,  barley, 
and  straw ;  and  the  rest  with  supplies  for  one  or  two  months. 
He  examined  the  arsenals,  and  made  sure  that  the  weapons 


in  the  soldiers’  hands  were  in  good  order.  He  sent  away  from 
the  camps  all  useless  persons,  old  men  and  children,  who  hin¬ 
dered  the  movements  of  the  troops  and  consumed  the  rations. 
Discipline  was  the  more  easily  maintained  because  he  watched 

with  the  utmost  vigilance  over 
the  needs  of  the  soldier,  and 
even  in  the  most  remote 'marches 
secured  the  seasonable  arrival  of 
provisions.  He  also  revived  the 
old  usage  of  surrounding  the 
„  most  temporary  camps  with  a 

COIN  OF  SHAPUR  OR  SAPOR  I.2  #  1  1 

ditch ;  and  visiting  the  outposts 
often,  even  during  the  night,  he  kept  watch  upon  the  conduct 
of  all.  In  a  short  time  a  man  like  this,  able  and  devoted  to 
the  public  welfare,  restored  their  military  virtues  to  the  troops, 
and  the  army  again  became  the  formidable  weapon  that  it  had 
so  long  been. 

1  From  a  bas-relief  of  the  Antonine  Column. 

2  Bust  of  Sapor,  with  legend :  The  worshipper  of  Orrnuzd.  On  the  reverse,  a  pyre  between 
two  standing  figures ;  legend :  Chapouri.  (Gold  coin.) 


SEVEN  EMPERORS  IN  FOURTEEN  YEARS,  235  TO  249  a.  d.  169 


COm  OF  GOR¬ 
DIAN  III.1 


The  Persians  quickly  perceived  what  had  taken  place.  Satisfied 
or  exhausted  by  the  first  collision  in  the  reign  of  Alexander 
Severus,  they  had  remained  tranquil  until  about  the  close  of 

Maximin’s  reign;  but  new  Asiatic  dynasties  do  not  at  once  abandon 
the  tent  for  the  harem.  To  consolidate  their  power,  they  need 
from  time  to  time  to  give  scope  to  the  warlike  ardor  which 

brought  them  into  existence.  Ardishir  again  threat¬ 
ened  Armenia  and  the  Roman  provinces.  Upon  his 
death  in  240  he  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Shapur, 
or  Sapor,  who  for  a  third  of  a  century  (240-273) 
remained  the  indefatigable  enemy  of  the  Romans. 

This  monarch  led  in  person  a  formidable  invasion, 
which  penetrated  into  the  heart  of  Syria.  He  took 
the  strong  cities  of  Atra,  Nisibis,  and  Carrhae,  crossed 
the  Euphrates,  and  menaced  Antioch.2  At  news  of  this,  Gordian 

opened  the  temple  of  Janus  (241), 3  —  a  ceremony  which  seems 

then  to  have  occurred  for  the  last  time,  —  and  with  a  large 
army  set  out  for  the  valley  of  the  Danube,  which  the  Sar- 
matians  and  Goths  had  been  ravaging  for  four  years ; 4  the 
Alani  had  even  advanced  as  far  as  the  neighborhood  of  Pliilip- 
popolis  in  Thrace,  where  they  defeated  a  Roman  force.  The 
Barbarians  could  not  make  any  stand  against  the  large  army  led 
by  Gordian,  which  drove  away  these  pillagers  as  it  advanced.5 

In  242  the  Emperor  crossed  the  Hellespont  and  moved  forward 
rapidly  towards  the  Euphrates. 

The  Persian  cavalry  offered  no  better  resistance  than  the  Goths 
had  done ;  but  the  history  of  these  engagements  is  lost.  We  have 
only  a  few  lines  in  a  despatch  from  the  Emperor  to  the  Senate  : 
“  After  the  many  advantages  gained  upon  our  march,  each  one 
of  which  merits  the  honor  of  a  triumph,  we  have  broken  the 
yoke  already  placed  upon  the  neck  of  Antioch,  and  have  deliv- 


1  Coin  commemorating  the  crossing  of  the  Hellespont  by  the  Emperor.  Reverse  of  a 
medium  bronze  of  Gordian  III.,  with  the  legend  TIIAIECTVS  AVG.  Gordian  is  seated  in  the 
prow  of  a  praetorian  galley,  around  which  three  dolphins  are  swimming.  At  the  present  day 
shoals  of  porpoises  follow  vessels  in  the  Hellespont. 

2  Mirkhond,  Hist,  des  Sassanides,  French  translation  by  Sylvestre  de  Sacy,  p.  288. 

3  Aur.  Victor,  Caes.  27. 

4  The  initium  belli  Scythici  dates  from  the  reigns  of  Maximin  and  Balbinus,  in  238 
(Capit.,  16).  In  the  first  invasion  the  Goths  desti’oyed  Istria,  upon  the  Euxine. 

6  Delevit,  fugavit,  expulit  atque  submovit  (Capit.,  Gord.  26).  On  the  tomb  of  Gordian  are 
•engraved  the  words,  Victor  Gothorum  (Ibid.  34). 


170 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


ered  Syria  from  this  king  and  his  dominion.  We  have  restored 
Carrhae  and  the  other  cities  to  the  Empire.  We  are  now  at  Nisibis, 
and,  the  gods  favoring,  shall  soon  be  at  Ctesiphon,  if  they  pre¬ 
serve  to  us  Timesitheus,  our  prefect  and  father,  who  plans  and 
conducts  everything.  To  him  we  owe  this  success,  and  shall  owe 
others  yet.  Therefore  vote  supplications  to  the  gods,  and  thanks 


to  Timesitheus.”  The  Senate  decreed  to  the  Emperor  a  quadriga  of 
elephants,  and  to  the  prefect  a  triumphal  chariot  drawn  by  four 
horses,  with  this  inscription  :  “  To  the  tutor  of  the  state.” 3 

Unfortunately,  not  long  after,  the  wise  tutor  died,  —  carried  off 
by  disease,  or,  as  was  believed  at  the  time,  poisoned  by  Philip 
(243).  This  Philip  was  an  Arab  of  Trachonitis,4  son  of  a  robber 
chief  famous  in  that  country,  and  for  a  time  following  his  father’s 
mode  of  life.  Enrolled  in  the  Roman  army,  he  rose  from  one  grade 

1  Engraved  stone -(sardonyx)  of  three  layers,  23  millim.  by  20.  Pehlvi  legend,  of  which 

four  letters  only  can  be  clearly  made  out.  Cf.  Mordtmann,  Zeitschrift  der  deutsch.  Morgen- 
landischen  Gesellschgft,  vol.  xviii.  pi.  vi.  4.  ( Cabinet  de  France ,  No.  1,344.) 

2  Intaglio  of  the  Sassanid  style.  Perforated  cone,  10  millim.  in  diameter.  ( Cabinet  de 
France ,  No.  1,377.) 

3  Capit.,  Gord.  27.  An  inscription  recently  discovered  in  Algeria  gives  Gordian  seven 
imperatorial  salutations  (Bull,  de  corre'sp.  afric.  1882,  p.  119). 

4  His  name  was  M.  Julius  Philippus,  and  that  of  his  wife  Marcia  Otacilia  Severa.  (See 
L.  Renier,  Inscr.  d’Alg.  No.  2,540.)  According  to  Aurelius  Victor  (Caes.  28),  he  was  born  at 
Bostra,  and  gave  that  city  its  later  name,  Philippopolis.  Ecclesiastical  councils,  however, 
mention  both  Bostra  and  Philippopolis.  —  the  latter  a  town  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  former 
(Labbe,  Cone.  viii.  644,  675).  M.  Waddington  has  discovered  the  ruins  of  Philippopolis, 
where  are  yet  to  be  seen  a  theatre,  an  aqueduct,  baths,  temples,  and  numerous  public  edi¬ 
fices.  But  the  wall  was  never  completed  ;  Philip  had  not  time  to  finish  his  work. 


SEVEN  EMPERORS  IN  FOURTEEN  YEARS,  235  TO  249  a.  d.  171 


to  another,  until  after  the  death  of  Timesitheus  he  was  made  its 
highest  officer.  Gordian  appointed  him  to  succeed  in  office  the 
man  whom  he  had  perhaps  murdered,  and  the  operations  against 
the  Persians  were  continued.  A  great  battle  gained  near  Resaina, 
on  the  Chabaras,  opened  the  road  to  the  Persian  capital ;  but  sud¬ 
denly  a  mutiny  broke  out  in  the  Roman  army. 

The  new  prefect  had  fomented  it  by  intentionally  disorganizing 
the  service  which  his 
predecessor  had  so 
well  established.  Se¬ 
cret  orders  led  the 
supply-trains  astray 
and  hindered  the  boats 
laden  with  provisions 
from  reaching  the 
camps.  When  Philip 
saw  discontent  spring¬ 
ing  up  and  growing, 
he  employed  emissa¬ 
ries  to  go  about  among 
the  tents  and  the 
groups  of  soldiers  and 
complain  of  Gordian : 
an  Emperor  so  young 
was  incapable  of  rul¬ 
ing  the  state  and  com¬ 
manding  the  army ; 
a  colleague  ought  to 
be  given  him  who 
would  take  the  place 
of  Timesitheus.  The 

PHILIP  THE  ELDER.1 

army,  impelled  by 

famine,  placed  the  Empire  in  the  power  of  Philip,  and  directed 
that  he,  as  tutor,  should  rule  jointly  with  Gordian.2 

The  friends  of  the  young  Emperor  could  not  deceive  themselves 
in  regard  to  this  division  of  authority  imposed  by  the  soldiers,  —  it 
was  a  master  who  was  set  over  him  ;  and  the  insolent  behavior  of 


1  Bust  in  the  Louvre,  not  designated  with  certainty  (Luni  marble). 


2  Zosimus,  i.  18. 


172 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


Philip  made  the  situation  perfectly  evident.  They  prepared  a 


counter-revolution ;  and  when  they  believed  themselves  sufficiently 
strong,  called  together  the  army,  as  if  it  were  a  deliberative 
assembly.  Gordian,  ascending  his  tribunal,  complained  before  them 
of  the  ingratitude  of  Philip,  whom  he  had,  he  said,  loaded  with 
favors,  and  appealed  to  the  soldiers  for  justice ;  that  is  to  say, 
the  deposition  of  the  Emperor  whom  they  liad  appointed.  But  the 
opposing  party  were  victorious,  and  it  was  Gordian  who  was 
deposed.  Here  Capitolinus  places  a  scene  of  unworthy  supplications, 
in  which  Gordian  ignobly  descends  all  the  steps  of  power,  begging 


first  a  share  in  the  Empire,  then  the  rank  of  Caesar, 
or  the  title  of  praetorian  prefect,  lastly,  the  grade  of 
dux  and  his  life.  We  have  no  more  reason  to  believe 
in  this  young  man’s  cowardice  than  in  his  great 


courage ;  but  at  twenty  a  man  does  not  die  thus. 
Gordian  was  killed  near  Zaitha,  the  city  of  olive- 
trees,  where  his  assassin  erected  to  his  memory  a 


splendid  tomb,  which  a  century  later  was  yet  standing.1 2  Three 
other  Emperors,  Valerian,  Carus,  and  Julian,  were  destined  to 
die  in  these  deserts. 

Philip  wrote  to  the  Senate  that  the  soldiers  had  chosen  him 
Emperor  in  the  stead  of  Gordian,  deceased  by  natural  causes ;  and 
the  Senate  decreed  to  the  latter  apotheosis,  and  to  the  former  the 
imperial  titles.  The  Conscript  Fathers  consoled  themselves  for  their 
secret  grief  by  granting  to  all  the  surviving  members  of  the  ill- 
fated  family,  once  so  prosperous,  exemption  from  guardianship, 
legations,  and  municipal  burdens  ( munerci ).  This  was  all  that  they 
now  had  it  in  their  power  to  give  (February  or  March,  244). 

1  PAX  F  VXD  AT  A  CYM  PERSIS  :  reverse  of  a  silver  coin  of  Philip  the  Elder  ;  medal 
commemorative  of  peace  with  the  Persians. 

2  Amm.  Marcellin.,  xxiii.  5.  The  government  of  Gordian  III.  was  remarkable  for  great 
legislative  activity;  the  Code  of  Justinian  mentions  two  hundred  and  forty  ordinances  of  this 
reign.  One  of  them  is  important ;  it  granted  to  soldiers  who  had  accepted,  unawares,  a  bur¬ 
densome  inheritance,  the  advantage  of  being  held  to  the  payment  of  the  debts  only  to  the 
extent  of  the  assets  (Code,  vi.  22).  Hence  the  institution  of  the  inventory. 


SEVEN  EMPERORS  IN  FOURTEEN  YEARS,  235  TO  249  a.  d.  173 


III. —  Philip  (244). 


Instead  of  prosecuting  the  war  against  the  Persians,  discouraged 
as  they  were  by  their  defeat  at  Resaina,  Philip  made  haste  to 
conclude  peace,  on  terms  advantageous  to  them,1  and  returned  to 
Antioch.  Eusebius,  who  is  disposed  to  represent  this  murderer  as 
a  Christian,  says  that  it  was  related  in  his  time2  that  Philip, 
with  the  Empress,  wishing  to  celebrate  Easter  in  Antioch,  the 
bishop,  Saint  Babylas,  forbade  them  admission  to  the  Church;  upon 
which  both  humiliated  themselves,  made  public  confession  of  their 
sins,  and  took  their  places  among  the  penitents.  This  popular  belief 
in  the  end  became 
historic  certainty  ; 3 
although  it  is  not 
easy  to  see  what  in¬ 
terest  the  Church  had 
in  claiming  such  a 
proselyte.  It  may 
be  that  this  Arab 
had  in  his  youth  a 
knowledge  of  the 
Christian  religion  ; 
tions  with  Origen ; 5  and  it  is  certain  that  during  his  reign,  as 
during  that  of  Alexander,  the  Christians  enjoyed  undisturbed 


PHILIP,  THE  EMPRESS  OTACILIA,  AND  THE  YOUNGER  PHILIP.4 


that,  like  Mamaea,  he  had  established  rela- 


1  Eutropius,  ix.  2;  Zonaras,  xii.  18,  19. 

2  'O  \6yos  Kare^ei  (Eusebius,  Hist.  eccl.  vi.  34). 

3  SS.  Chrysostom,  Orosius,  and  Zonaras  admitted  them,  and  Saint  Jerome  says  of 
Philip  (De  Vir.  ill.),  qui  primus  de  regibus  rom.  christ.  fuit.  But  these  authors  all  lived  or 
wrote  after  the  penitence  of  Theodosius;  and  it  was  well  to  increase  the  authority  of  that 
famous  example  by  confirming  the  rumors  that  had  naturally  grown  up  among  the  believers  in 
respect  to  the  public  penitence  of  a  whole  imperial  family  whose  toleration  had  caused  them  to 
be  suspected  of  sharing  in  the  Christian  faith.  At  the  end  of  the  fourth  century,  a  bishop, 
when  that  bishop  was  Saint  Ambrose,  might  forbid  an  emperor  entrance  to  his  church ;  a  cen¬ 
tury  and  half  earlier  no  man  would  have  dared  to  do  it. 

4  CONCORDIA  AVGVSTORVM.  Busts  of  Philip  and  Otacilia,  and  of  their  son.  On 
the  reverse  :  EX  ORAC VLO  APOLLINIS ;  a  round  temple  with  four  columns,  and  within 
it  a  statue  of  Apollo.  (Bronze  medallion.) 

5  Eusebius  {Hist.  eccl.  vi.  33)  possessed  two  letters  written  by  Origen,  —  the  one  to  Philip, 
the  other  to  the  Empress.  But  he  does  not  say  that  he  finds  there  the  proof  that  these  impe¬ 
rial  persons  were  Christians. 


174 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


tranquillity : 1  but  all  his  public  conduct  was  that  of  a  pagan  em¬ 
peror.  According  to  the  legend  of  one  of  his  coins,  he  believed 
that  his  accession  had  been  predicted  by  Apollo ; 2  and 
the  medals  of  Otacilia  Severa  bear  profane  devices, 
—  sacrilegious  honors  that  a  Christian  believer  would 
have  refused.  On  the  other  hand,  at  that  time  of 
religious  confusion  many  persons  were  uncertain  what 
they  believed.  The  rational  syncretism  of  the  Alexan¬ 
drian  philosophers  became  an  unreasoning  syncretism 
in  many  minds.  Thus  a  singular  monument  (though  of  much  later 


DENARIUS.3 


SAINT  GEORGE  WITH  THE  HEAD  OF  A  SPARROW- 
HAWK.  (IDENTIFIED  WITH  HORUS.) 


ROMAN  WITH  THE  HEAD  OF 
A  SPARROW-HAWK. 


date)  represents  a  Saint  George  with  the  head  of  a  sparrow-hawk,  — 
that  is  to  say,  a  hero  of  Christian  legend  is  confused  with  the  Egyp- 

1  Except  at  Alexandria,  if  we  may  believe  Eusebius  (vi.  41).  But  this  so-called  persecu¬ 

tion  was  probably  only  one  of  the  riots  so  common  in  that  city,  in  which  Christians  as  well  as 
pagans  perished. 

Ex  oraculo  Apollinis  (Cohen,  vol.  iv.  p.  201,  No.  4;  see  p.  173).  He  caused  Gordian 

III.  to  be  proclaimed  clivus,  and  performed  all  the  pagan  rites  of  the  Secular  Games.  There 

occurred  during  his  reign  an  outbreak  at  Alexandria  against  the  Christians,  “  which  ceased 
only  when  civil  war  turned  away  men’s  minus  ”  (Eusebius,  Hist.  eccl.  vi.  41). 

3  I\  NO  CONSERVAi  'AX.  Juno  veiled,  holding  a  patera  and  a  sceptre.  Reverse  of 
a  coin  of  Otacilia. 


SEVEN  EMPERORS  IN  FOURTEEN  YEARS,  235  TO  249  a.d.  175 


tian  god  Horus.1  The  so-called  Christianity  of  Mamaea  and  Otacilia 
was  of  the  same  nature,  and  even  more  vague  than  this. 

The  events  of  Philip’s  reign  are  almost  unknown  to  us.  The 
Augustan  History,  from  Gordian  III.  to  Valerian,  —  that  is  to  say, 
from  244  to  253, — is  lost;  and  to  fill  this  gap  we  have  only  the 
meagre  or  untrustworthy  summaries  of  Zosimus  and  Zonaras,  who 
wrote,  the  former  in  the  fifth  century,  the  latter  in  the  twelfth.  They 
speak  of  a  ceremony  which  stirred  all  Italy,  —  the  celebration  of  the 
Secular  Games  on  the  thousandth  anniversary  of  the  founding  of 
Rome  (248). 2  To  do  honor  to  this  great  occasion,  all  the  magni¬ 
ficence  of  imperial  festivals  was  displayed,  and  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  nations  responded  to  the  pomp  of  the  ceremonial.  The  god 
Terminus  having  steadily  advanced  for  a  thousand  years,  the 
multitude  might  well  believe  that  he  was  not  now  about  to  recede. 


AUREUS.3 


COIN  OF  PHILIP.4 


And  in  considering;  this  constant 
good  fortune  through  so  large  a 
space  in  the  duration  of  humanity, 
the  degenerate  sons  of  ancient 
Rome  allowed  their  poets  to  pre¬ 
dict  for  the  Empire  a  new  millen¬ 
nium.  But  shouts  of  victory  were 
about  to  cease ;  a  successor  of  Augustus  and 
Trajan  was  soon  to  perish  in  battle  with  the  Goths ;  another  was 
to  be  a  captive  in  the  hands  of  Sapor ;  and  already  he  was  born 
who  was  to  reduce  the  ancient  queen  of  the  world  to  the  condition 
of  a  mere  Italian  town. 

Although  his  son  (M.  Julius  Philippus)  was  but  seven  years  of 
age,  Philip  made  him  Caesar  and  (in  247)  Augustus,  —  forgetting 
the  fate  of  those  imperial  boys  for  whom  the  purple  had  been  but 
a  shroud.  The  new  Emperor  also  placed  all  his  kindred  in  posi¬ 
tions  of  importance.  His  brother  Priscus  commanded  the  army  of 
Syria  ;  his  father-in-law  (?),  Severianus,  that  of  Moesia.  Philip 
treated  the  senators  with  respect,  and  seems  to  have  ruled  mod¬ 
erately,  without  cruelties  or  confiscations.  However,  he  confiscated 


1  Cf.  Horus  et  S.  Georges,  memoir  by  M.  Clermont-Ganneau  in  the  Revue  arche'ol.  1877. 

2  The  thousandth  year  of  Rome  began,  accepting  Varro’s  calculation,  the  21st  of  April,  247. 
The  year  was  allowed  to  be  completed  before  the  games  were  celebrated  (Eckhel,  vii.  324). 

3  Aureus  of  the  younger  Philip,  Caesar  and  Prince  of  the  Youth  (Cohen,  No.  28). 

4  Coin  commemorating  the  thousandth  anniversary  of  Rome.  (Reverse  of  a  large 
bronze  of  Philip.) 


176 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d 


to  the  state  the  palace  of  Pornpey,  which  was  the  property  of  the 
Gordians,  and  had  been  much  embellished  by  them.  The  Carpae, 
a  people  of  Getic  origin,  probably  resident  on  the  banks  of  the 


THE  YOUNGER  PHILIP.1 


Pruth,  had  come  down  into  the  lands  of  the  lower  Danube.  It  ap¬ 
pears  probable  that  Philip  went  in  person  to  expel  them,  and  made 
two  campaigns  in  that  war  (245-24G).1 2  Upon  his  return  to  Rome 
the  news  arrived  that  the  Syrians,  exasperated  by  the  severities 


1  Bust  found  at  Civita  Lavinia.  (Capitol,  Hall  of  the  Emperors,  No.  69.) 

2  Victoria  Carpica,  Carpicus  Maximus ,  legends  on  two  of  his  coins ;  another,  giving  him 
the  title  Germanicus  Maximus,  announces  some  victory  over  the  Germans  (Cohen,  vol.  iv.  p.  202, 
No.  5). 


SEVEN  EMPERORS  IN  FOURTEEN  YEARS,  235  TO  249  a.  d.  177 


of  Priscus,  had  proclaimed  an  emperor,  Iotapianus,  who  called 
himself  a  descendant  of  Alexander,  and  that  certain  rebels  in 
Moesia  had  proclaimed  another,  Marinus.2  Philip,  in  much  anxiety, 

1  Photograph  by  Parker. 

2  We  have  imperial  coins  of  two  other  usurpers  who  cannot  be  placed,  —  Pacatianus  and 
Sponsianus.  The  workmanship  of  the  coins  indicates  the  time  of  Philip  or  Decius  (Cohen, 
vol.  iv.  pp.  229,  231,  and  pi.  xi.). 

von.  vii. 


12 


178 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


consulted  the  Senate.  Decius,  one  of  the  members  of  that  assembly, 
who  understood  the  value  of  the  new  Augusti,  announced  that 
these  mock  emperors  would  not  be  able  to  maintain  their  author¬ 
ity  ;  and  in  fact  they  fell  of  themselves.  Philip,  however,  believed 
it  needful  to  send  to  the  army  of  the  Danube  the  wise  adviser  who 
had  so  well  foreseen  the  turn  affairs  would  take.  Decius  long 
resisted,  apprehending  that  these  legions,  who  had  now  for  four¬ 
teen  years  remained  obedient,  would  seize  the  first  pretext  to 
give  themselves  the  pleasure  and  profit  of  a  revolt.  His  anxiety 

was  not  unfounded ;  he  had  scarcely  entered  the 
camp  when  the  soldiers  saluted  him  emperor,  in 
spite  of  himself.  The  very  men  whom  he  had 
been  commissioned  to  punish,  had  devised  this 
scheme,  which  at  once  saved  'them  from  chastise- 
coin  of  the  elder  uient  and  secured  to  them  a  donativum. 

rminp.  Decius  wrote  to  his  master  that  as  soon  as  he 

returned  to  Rome  he  would  lay  aside  the  purple.  The  Emperor 
did  not  credit  this  promise,  and  marched  against  the  army  of  Pan- 
nonia ;  an  engagement  took  place  near  Verona,2  and  he  was  defeated 
and  killed.  The  praetorians  left  at  Rome  murdered  his  son  (249), 
a  boy  now  twelve  years  of  age,  who,  it  is  said,  had  never  been 
seen  to  smile.3 

1  Coin  of  the  elder  Philip,  with  the  legend  :  VICTORIA  CARPICA. 

2  The  Chronicle  of  Alexandria  represents  him  as  forty-live  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  his 
death.  For  results  of  the  Gothic  invasion,  see  chap.  xcvi. 

3  Aur.  Victor,  Cues.  28.  This  tragedy  took  place  early  in  the  autumn. 

4  Reverse  of  a  bronze  medal  of  the  two  Philips  and  Otacilia,  with  the  legend  :  GERM 
[anici]  MAX[imi]  CARPICI  MAX[imi],  Victory,  standing  in  a  quadriga,  assists  Philip, 
Otacilia,  and  their  son  to  enter  it  (Cohen,  No.  5). 


BRONZE  MEDAL  OF  THE  TWO  PHILIPS  AND  OTACILIA.4 


CHAPTER  XCY. 


THE  EMPIRE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  OP  THE  THIRD  CENTURY. 


I.  —  The  Barbarians. 


HE  Roman  Empire,  extended  around  the  Mediterranean  Sea, 


included  the  most  favored  regions  of  the  temperate  zone,  — 
fertile  lands  with  their  abundant  harvests,  and  beautiful  cities,  the 
•earliest  home  of  civilization.  Notwithstanding  the  catastrophes 
which  occurred  periodically  at  Rome  or  in  the  camps,  this  region 
was  a  vast  oasis  amid  the  triple  barbarism  of  the  North,  the  South, 
and  the  East.  Hitherto  that  of  the  South  had  not  been  formidable. 
The  desert  horsemen  had  not  yet  dreamed  of  abandoning  the  date- 
trees  which  fed  them,  and  the  wells  of  which  they  had  drunk 
since  Abraham’s  time,  to  scour  the  world  for  the  sake  of  dissemi¬ 
nating  a  new  religion.  Only  the  Blemyes,  from  time  to  time, 
disturbed  Upper  Egypt,  and  on  the  Arabian  coast  the  Saracens 
began  to  attract  notice,  —  witness  the  foolish  story,  related  by  the 
Chronicle  of  Alexandria ,  of  lions  and  serpents  placed  along  their 
frontier  by  Decius  to  deter  them  from  crossing  it.1 

The  East  swarmed  with  its  countless  myriads  of  men,  formi¬ 
dable  in  frontier  wars,  but  organized  into  great  states,  and  by  that 
very  circumstance  rendered  incapable  of  those  vast  migrations 
which  tread  cities  and  empires  under  foot. 

In  the  North,  on  the  contrary,  the  great  movement  from  East 
to  West  still  continued  which  had  begun  in  the  remotest  ages  with 
the  first  migration  of  the  Aryans.  Not  being  able  to  encroach 
upon  the  settled  inhabitants  of  Iran,  the  nomad  hordes  bore  north¬ 
ward,  passed  through  the  Volkerthor ,  “the  gate  of  the  nations,” 2 

1  Amm.  Marcellinus  says  (xxii.  15):  .  .  .  Scenitas  Arabas  quos  Saracenos  nunc  adpellamus. 

2  This  is  the  name  German  authors  give  to  the  plain  which  extends  from  the  last  slopes 
of  the  Ural  to  the  Caspian  Sea. 


180 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


and  crowded  the  great  Sarmatian  and  Germanic  plains  in  a  vagrant 
mass,  but  slightly  attached  to  the  soil,  a  pastoral  rather  than  an 
agricultural  people,  and  accused  by  an  old  author  of  holding  the 
doctrine  that  might  makes  right,1  —  a  view  which  they  have  always 
held,  and  still  hold  at  the  present  day.  They  were  most  dangerous 
neighbors.  Notwithstanding  the  ungrateful  soil  and  severe  climate, 
these  prolific  races  increased  rapidly,2  and  in  the  midst  of  their 
poverty  forever  turned  their  eyes  towards  the  lands  of  sunshine 
and  of  wealth.  Thrice  already,  within  historic  times,  had  they 
attempted  to  enter  them. 

In  the  time  of  Marius,  while  three  hundred  thousand  Cimbri 
and  Teutones  ravaged  Gaul,  Spain,  and  Northern  Italy,  others  had 
fallen  upon  the  Hellenic  peninsula,  devastating  it  from  the  Adriatic 
to  the  Black  Sea.  When,  after  the  victory  of  Vercellae,  Marius 
had  set  upon  his  buckler  the  head  of  a  Barbarian  with  protruding 
tongue,  it  was  to  signify  that  Rome  had  strangled  the  Barbaric 
world  in  the  grasp  of  her  mighty  hands. 

But  forty  years  had  scarcely  passed  when  this  formidable 
enemy  reappeared  with  threatening  aspect ;  a  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  warriors,  the  vanguard  of  the  great  nation  of  the  Suevi, 
and  four  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  Usipetes  or  Tencteri  under¬ 
took  the  concpiest  of  Gaul.  They  were  already  in  possession  of 
its  eastern  portions,  when  Caesar  drove  the  former  back  into  the 
German  forests,  and  exterminated  the  latter  between  the  Rhine 
and  the  Meuse.  During  the  reign  of  Marcus  Aurelius  an  immense 
coalition  again  caused  anxiety  even  in  Rome  itself ;  the  Marco- 
manni  came  as  far  as  Aquileia,  and  the  Emperor  was  obliged  to 
remain  for  several  years  on  the  banks  of  the  Danube  with  the 
principal  forces  of  the  Empire. 

Thus,  in  three  centuries,  there  had  been  three  formidable  at¬ 
tacks,  by  the  Cimbri,  by  Ariovistus,  and  by  the  Marcomanni,  and 
in  the  interval  between  the  great  invasions,  a  multitude  of  com¬ 
bats  and  endless  alarms  along  the  Rhine  and  the  Danube.  This 
northern  Barbaric  world  was  like  a  human  sea,  whose  waves,  now 
violent,  now  feeble,  were  forever  beating  against  the  Roman  in- 
trenchments. 


1  Jus  in  viribus  hcibet  (Pomp.  Mela). 

2  Scnnzia  insula  officina  gentium  aut  certe  velut  vagina  nation um  (Jordanes,  4). 


ttistoire  des  Homains  ~  T.Vl 


Hachette  et  Cle-Pans. 


Mora, 
(Met  ^&) 


Juth, 


'  vP.\v» 

•n  JZncten  J 


CX\er 


uMur&€^L 


***'*'£* 

KSS’^ 


p  V&i&r  'ths 

ifi'est&rn  ■/0  -'  '^1 

Kaiitu'ul  7  )K 

.i  d  .  ^ 

r?$p£)<  .  Yicopoh-f  ■‘•G; 

e(i$eaj‘*n  E*  n  te*»*sfy 


Ton# 

^UuuipolM 

a Odf 

(tfznTUiJ 

,^,u-A^,7r 


'Y/n.ri 


"fiesjrt/oniitfe- 

^fithosW 

■■A  o ■  Ca-Krandreti 
-t  PolidaMi- - 


r/YW* 


fyai^o  £ 


4  ^ 

tr,  ,SPs°.  I 

i^^V. 


?j,uirn<i 


I  OJVIUAf 


Pac,p^vil 


T*acusae 


VRhoile* 


taLPcW*‘. 

— *0  ...  /htrn  l 


Uterosohr 

(Jenu^,l*‘ 


ALexantli  ‘a  © 


urn  ^5jaAw  iMPm 


am® 


TOE  ®  A  [ft  SARD'S  W^DftLl© 


inthe  second  half  ofthe  Third  Centura 


Scale 

J/r?  v’«?  m  r  1  rr.  y 


Ckfi/eru*- 

O  P  I 
ezw  / 


THE  EMPIRE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  THIRD  CENTURY.  181 


With  Caesar,  Augustus,  and  Trajan,  Rome  had  taken  the 
offensive;  she  had  crossed  the  Rhine  and  the  Danube,  and  on 
the  one  hand  penetrated  as  far  as  the  Elbe,  where  she  could  not 
maintain  herself,  and  on  the  other  as  far  as  the  summit  of  the 
Carpathians,  across  conquered  Dacia.  But  the  Germans  could  not 
be  grasped ;  neither  in  peace  nor 
in  war  had  Rome  any  hold  upon 
them.  From  two  hundred  years  of 
contact  with  civilization  they  had 
gained  nothing.  Ammianus  Mar- 
cellinus  still  shows  them,  in  the 
time  of  Julian,  possessing  no  cities 
in  their  own  country,  and  afraid 
to  dwell  in  those  which  they  had 
conquered.  “  A  walled  inclosure 
seemed  to  them  a  net  in  which 
men  were  caught,  and  the  city 
itself  a  tomb  to  bury  them 
alive.”  1  The  name  of  one  of  their 
great  tribes,  the  Suevi,  or  Suabians, 
signifies  “those  going  to  and  fro.”  2 
From  deserters,  from  prisoners  of 
war,  from  Roman  traders  who  bought 
in  their  country  the  amber  of  the 
Baltic  or  the  long  fair  hair  of  their 
women,  they  asked  only  the  means 
of  making  their  attacks  more  for¬ 
midable.  Nowhere,  therefore,  in  all  young  dacian.3 

this  vague  and  fugitive  world  did 

Rome  find  solid  ground  whereon  she  could  establish  herself,  and 
thence  command  the  entire  country.  Accordingly,  after  some  vain 
attempts,  she  declined  to  venture  into  it  again.  Her  policy  in 
regard  to  the  Germans  was  to  cover  with  fortresses  the  Roman  banks 
of  the  two  great  rivers,  and  to  throw  across  this  line  of  defence  — 

1  xvi.  2. 

2  Die  Schwebende  (Jules  Sylvain  Zeller,  Hist,  d’ Allemagne,  i.  81).  Tacitus  represents 
the  Germans  as  saying  to  the  Ubii :  Postulamus  a  vobis,  muros  coloniae,  munimenta  servitii 
detrahatis  (Hist.  iv.  64). 

3  England,  Alarm.  Oxon,  pi.  20,  and  Clarac,  op.  cit.  pi.  834  B,  No.  2,  161  J. 


182 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


which  extended  uninterruptedly  from  the  North  Sea  to  the  Euxine 
—  pensions  to  the  chiefs  to  win  these  warriors  to  peace,  many 
intrigues  in  order  to  divide  them,  and  a  little  gold  to  attract 
their  bravest  soldiers  into  the  service  of  the  Empire. 

These  precautions  sufficed  until  the  time  when  the  migration 
of  the  Goths  threw  Eastern  Germany  into  confusion,  and  brought 
to  the  banks  of  the  Euxine  those  who  were  to  play  the  chief 
part  in  the  destruction  of  the  old  world. 

The  great  Gothic  nation,  a  people  who  have  left  in  the  Scan¬ 
dinavian  peninsula  their  name  and  the  traces  of  their  abode,  had 
quitted  it  at  an  unknown  but  recent  period,  under  the  leadership 
of  two  powerful  families,  —  the  Amalidae  (Amalungs)  and  Baltidae 
(Baltungs),  who  were  regarded  as  the  descendants  of  Odin  and 
Freya,  the  Venus  of  Northern  mythology.1  These  priest-kings  — 
who,  however,  had  no  sacerdotal  character,  judges  of  the  people  in 
time  of  peace,  and  military  leaders  in  war  —  subjugated  the  Vandals, 
who  were  probably  of  the  same  race  with  themselves,2  and  a 
crowd  of  other  tribes  whom  they  incorporated  into  their  own  mass, 
or  drove  back  either  to  the  South  or  West.  The  number  of  the  Goths 
increasing3  with  their  victories,  which  drew  to  them  adventurers 
eager  for  war  and  booty,  the  great  mass  of  the  nation  was  broken 
up  into  two  bodies :  one,  the  Goths  of  the  East,  or  Ostrogoths, 
under  Filimer,  crossed  the  Vistula  and  subjugated  the  Sarmatians  as 
far  as  the  Euxine ;  the  other,  the  Goths  of  the  West,  or  Visigoths, 
settled  around  the  mouths  of  the  Danube.  Certain  tribes,  set  in 
motion  by  this  great  migration,  went  still  farther  westward,  —  the 
Gepidae  into  Transylvania,  where  the  Romans  now  held  only  the 
fortified  posts;  the  Vandals  and  Heruli  into  the  Moravian  Car¬ 
pathians  ;  the  Langobardi  into  the  upper  valley  of  the  Oder ;  the 
Burgundians  into  those  of  the  Saale  and  the  Mein.  It  is  possible 
even  that  some  of  these  tribes  reached  the  southern  frontier  early 
enough  to  have  shared  in  the  war  with  the  Marcomanni  in  the 
time  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  or  that  their  pressure  upon  the  Germans 

1  “  The  Baltidae,”  says  Jordanes  (29),  “  are,  after  the  Amalidae,  the  noblest  of  the  Goths.” 
The  Vandals  had  kings  of  the  family  of  the  Astingae  (id.  22).  Ptolemy,  in  the  time  of  the 
Antonines,  mentions  the  Goths  as  already  established  on  the  lower  Vistula.  The  place  vacated 
on  the  shores  of  the  Baltic  was  occupied  by  the  Slavs. 

2  Pliny,  Hist.  nat.  iv.  14;  Procop.,  Bell.  Vand.  i.  1. 

3  .  .  .  Magna  populi  numerositate  crescente  (Jordanes,  4). 


VIEW  AMONG  THE  G/RPATHIAN  MOUNTAINS, 


«i  the 

.Ute£w*«tty  of  IIUeo4« 


THE  EMPIRE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  THIRD  CENTURY.  188 


of  the  South  obliged  the  latter  to  seek  their  fortunes  across  the 
Danube. 

By  the  success  of  this  migration  the  Goths  found  themselves 
brought  into  the  neighborhood  of  the  civilized  world.  The  rich 
pasture-lands  of  the  Black  Sea  fed  their  flocks ;  the  fertile  Ukraine 
gave  them  more  corn  than  they  needed ;  the  Sarmatian  rivers 
carried  their  vessels  down  to  the  Euxine,  girt  by  a  belt  of  cities 
full  of  wealth  easily  to  be  captured ;  and  while  the  Carpathians, 
which  the  legions  had  never  yet  ventured  to  cross,  concealed  the 
movements  of  these  Barbarians,  they  had,  in  the  open  space  be¬ 
tween  the  extremity  of  these  mountains  and  the  sea,  a  gateway 
always  giving  them  access  into  the  Roman  provinces.  They  re¬ 
mained,  therefore,  for  the  present  tranquil  and  fearless,  multiply¬ 
ing  in  these  fruitful  regions,  whence  their  warriors  could  almost 
see  the  enormous  booty  in  store  for  their  courage. 

Their  national  songs,  which  Jordanes  had  the  opportunity  of 
reading,  but  unfortunately  did  not  preserve  for  us,  related  their 
exploits.  They  boasted  of  having  subjected  the  Marcomanni  to 
tribute,  and  the  chiefs  of  the  Quadi  to  obedience.  Their  rule, 
therefore,  or  their  influence,  extended  from  Bohemia  to  the  Tauric 
Chersonesus,  and  their  name  was  dreaded  far  and  near.  Their  first 
appearance  in  Roman  history  is  in  the  year  215.  To  attach  to 
themselves  the  powerful  nation  whose  hand  was  so  heavy  upon 
their  ancient  enemies,1  the  Romans  subsidized  the  Goths,  —  which 
did  not  prevent  the  Roman  provinces  from  soon  having  cause  to 
dread  these  dangerous  neighbors.  While  the  body  of  the  nation 
remained  stationary,  some  adventurous  band  was  always  detaching 
itself,  and  at  its  own  risk  and  peril  crossing  the  Danube  or  the 
Euxine.  Did  the  Goths  essay,  like  the  Germans  in  Trajan’s  time, 
to  enter  into  relations  with  the  great  Oriental  Empire?  This  we 
do  not  know  ;  but  it  is  matter  of  history  that  when  Sapor  in¬ 
vaded  Roman  Asia  the  Goths  simultaneously  fell  upon  Moesia. 
As  early  as  238,  in  the  time  of  Pupienus  and  Balbinus,  they 
destroyed  an  important  city  in  this  province,  and  in  242  Gordian 
encountered  them  here,  where  it  is  probable  they  had  remained 
since  their  earlier  inroad.  He  killed  a  large  number  of  them,  and 

1  Jordanes,  16:  .  .  .  Sub  cujus  saepe  dextra  Wandalus  jacuit,  stetit  sub  pretio  Marco - 
mannus. 


184 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


by  the  aid  of  money 1  was  able  to  rid  himself  of  the  rest.  It  was 
but  for  a  short  time,  however ;  they  had  learned  the  road,  and 
later  would  return  in  force  sufficient  to  destroy  a  Roman  army 
and  kill  an  Emperor.  In  a  space  of  thirty  years  (238-269)  ten 
important  invasions  were  made  by  them ;  and  they  rested  for 
a  century  (269-375)  only  after  they  had  driven  the  Roman  gar¬ 
rison  out  of  Dacia  Trajana. 

While  in  the  northeast  masses  of  men  accustomed  to  fight 
under  great  military  chiefs  pressed  heavily  upon  the  frontier,  about 
the  upper  Danube,  the  Rhine,  and  the  lower  Mein  the  Barbarians 
were  organizing  in  a  manner  which  gave  their  warlike  enterprises 
that  unity  of  action  which  they  had  hitherto  always  lacked. 

During  the  first  and  second  centuries  of  the  Christian  era 
history  knows  only  the  Germany  of  Tacitus ;  in  the  third  that 
Germany  seems  suddenly  to  have  disappeared,  and  another  is  seen. 
Under  the  double  pressure  of  Rome  and  the  Gothic  invasion,  the 
Germans  had  felt  the  need  of  a  kind  of  union  among  their  tribes, 
without,  however,  going  so  far  as  to  establish  actual  confederations ; 
and  seeing  the  Roman  frontiers  so  poorly  defended,  their  war¬ 
riors  formed  the  habit  of  making  inroads  into  these  provinces  which 
had  been  so  long  closed  against  them. 

At  the  epoch  of  which  we  now  speak,  nothing  remained  of 
the  social  and  religious  organization  which  Tacitus  describes,  nor 
of  the  tribes  known  to  him.  We  now  hear  of  the  Alemanni, 
the  Franks,  and  the  Saxons  ;  later,  of  the  Thuringians  and  Bavari¬ 
ans,  —  designations  at  once  ethnographic  and  geographic.2 

“The  Alemanni,”  says  Agathias,  “are  a  mixture  of  different 
peoples,  which  is  signified  by  their  name,  ‘  the  men  of  all  races.’  ” 
But  the  Suevi  were  the  dominant  people,  and  gave  their  name  to 
the  Decumatian  lands,  henceforward  called  Suabia.  The  Franks 
were  also  “the  men  armed  with  the  framed"  or,  more  probably, 
“  the  free  men ;  ” 3  that  is  to  say,  men  of  the  Catti,  Sicambri, 
Bructeri,  Chamavi,  Tencteri,  and  Ansivarii,  who,  without  the 

1  See  in  the  Excerpta  de  Legationibus  of  P.  Patricius,  Bonn  edit.,  i.  24,  the  account  of 
the  deputation  of  the  Carpae  at  Menophylis. 

2  In  respect  to  this  new  grouping  of  the  populations  of  western  Germany,  see  Wieters- 
heirn,  Geschichle  der  Yolkerwanderung ,  i.  160-229,  edit,  of  1881. 

3  Wachter  ( Glossarium  Germanicuiri)  derives  the  name  from  Warg,  Wrong,  exiled,  ban¬ 
ished,  —  which  does  not  correspond  with  the  idea  of  an  agglomeration  of  tribes. 


THE  EMPIRE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  THIRD  CENTURY.  185 


general  participation  of  their  respective  tribes,  engaged  in  war 
under  individual  leaders.  The  Saxons,  “  the  men  of  the  lonar 

7  o 

knife,”  seax ,  recruited  their  bands  among  the  Chauci,  the  Frisii, 
the  Angrivarii,  and  what  remained  of  the  Cherusci. 

These  peoples  had  no  permanent  directing  council  or  sole 
chief,  although  all  or  most  of  the  tribes  belonging  to  one  group 
sometimes  united  to  wage  a  national  war.  More  frequently,  liow- 


-LENES  of  DEFENCE 

of  llie 

OECUM  ATI  AN  LANDS 


LINES  OF  DEFENCE  OF  THE  AGRI  DECUMATES. 


ever,  there  were  formed  among  them  free  associations  of  warrior 
bands  who  acted  together  for  a  definite  purpose,  and  this  purpose 
having  been  accomplished  or  else  defeated,  separated,  until  another 
association  would  be  formed,  after  a  time,  for  some  new  enterprise.1 
These  disorderly  bands  were  the  more  to  be  feared  because  Rome 
could  have  with  them  neither  real  peace  nor  open  war. 

As  the  aborigines  of  America  had  their  hunting-grounds,  so 

1  G.  Waitz  ( Deutsche  Verfassungsgeschichte,  i.  342)  says:  Ueberhcmpt  weiss  die  altere  Zeit 
nichts  von  eigentlichen  Bundesverfassungen.  This  is  true  ;  but  Sozomenes  (iii.  6)  shows  the 
Saxons  acting,  in  a  given  case,  as  a  nation,  and  Julian  was  obliged  to  encounter  at  Strasburg 
seven  confederated  Aleman  kings  (Amm.  Marcellinus,  xvi.  12).  But  seven  other  chiefs  of 
the  same  nation  held  aloof. 


186 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


each  of  these  nations  had  its  territory  to  pillage :  the  Alemanni 
claimed  the  region  extending  from  the  Mein  to  the  Alps,  and  from 
the  Bohemian  Forest  to  the  Vosges,  that  is  to  say,  the  Roman 
provinces  of  Upper  Germany  and  Rhaetia ;  the  Franks,  the  prov¬ 
inces  of  Lower  Germany  and  Belgica ;  the  Saxons,  the  ocean  and 
the  British  Islands. 

Under  Caracalla  the  Alemanni  had  invaded  the  Decumatian 
Lands ;  there  they  experienced  a  defeat  which  drove  them  back 
and  kept  them  quiet  for  twenty  years.  Milestones 
have  been  found  in  this  region  bearing  the  names 
of  Elagabalus  and  Alexander,  —  a  proof  that  these 
Emperors  were  obeyed  there.1 

In  the  reign  of  Alexander  the  Franks  had  with 
impunity  scoured  the  whole  of  Gaul,  killing  and 

°  COIN  OF  MAXIMIN. 

pillaging,  until,  satiated  with  booty,  they  returned 
to  their  encampments,  indifferent  to  the  fate  of  their  companions 
whom  they  had  left  along  the  road.  Maximin  pursued  these 
plunderers  into  the  depths  of  their  forests,  and  believed  that 

he  had  struck  the  barbaric  world  a  ter¬ 
rible  blow ;  upon  his  coins  we  read  the 
legend,  Victoria  Germanica ,  so  often  im¬ 
printed  on  Roman  money,  but  never  true 
except  for  the  moment,  since  the  blow  was 
always  struck  into  empty  space. 

In  the  middle  of  the  third  century,  then,  Germany  organized 
itself  for  the  attack :  in  the  East,  an  innumerable  nation,  ruled 
by  a  family  who  were  regarded  as  favorites  of  the  gods,  and  who 
knew  how  to  prepare  enterprises  carefully  and  to  conduct  them 
with  unanimity;  in  the  "West,  confederations  formed  for  purposes 
of  war,  and  a  multitude  of  chiefs  who  are  incessantly  flinging 
their  predatory  bands  at  the  Empire,  as  banclilleros  fling  blazing 

1  From  the  fact  that  these  milestones  were  discovered  near  Baden-Baden,  while  others, 
bearing;  the  name  of  Septimius  Severus,  were  found  much  farther  to  the  East,  Wintersheim 
(ii.  214)  concludes  that  the  Roman  frontier  had  already  been  pushed  back  in  the  West  under 
Elagabalus  or  Alexander. 

2  Coin  of  Maximin,  with  the  legend  :  VICTORIA  GERMANICA.  Maximin  standing, 
crowned  by  a  Victory.  (Medium  bronze.) 

3  VICTORIA  GERMAN.  Gold  coin  of  Maximin.  MAXIMINVS  PIVS  AVG.  GERM. 
Laurelled  bust  of  the  Emperor.  On  the  reverse,  a  standing  Victory ;  at  her  feet  a  German, 
his  hands  tied  behind  his  back. 


THE  EMPIEE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  THIED  CENTUEY.  187 

darts  at  the  bull  in  the  arena.  Assailed  by  contemptible  enemies 
whom  he  cannot  reach,  the  powerful  creature  is  confused,  distracted ; 
he  bellows,  and  falls  to  the  ground.  Such  was  to  be  the  fall  of  the 
Roman  colossus;  but  in  this  case  the  fiesta  del  toro  was  destined 
to  last  two  centuries. 

The  danger  is  increasing,  then,  along  the  northern  frontier.  All 
the  outposts  of  the  Empire  which  covered  the  main  position  are 
lost,  or  will  shortly  be  so.  The  Decu- 
matian  Lands  are  invaded ;  Dacia  has 
now  but  a  few  scattered  garrisons,  which 
will  soon  be  recalled  by  Aurelian ;  a  city 
which  up  to  this  time  had  been  as  the 
eye  and  hand  of  the  Emperors  over  scythian  coin.1 

the  Scythian  world,  Olbia,2  —  which  the  Antonines  had  protected, 
and  where  statues  were  erected  in  honor  of  Caracalla,3  —  disappears 


HEAD-BAND  OF  GOLD,  WITH  A  MEDALLION  OF  COMMODUS,  FOUND  IN  A  TOMB  IN  THE 

CRIMEA. 

at  this  time  from  history  ;  and  the  other  allies  of  Hadrian  at  the 
mouths  of  the  great  Sarmatian  rivers4  are  at  the  mercy  of  the 
Goths.  Soon  Rome  will  fall  back  behind  the  Danube;  and  even 
the  great  river  will  no  longer  protect  her,  for  already  Istriopolis,  an 
important  city  of  the  Dobroudja,  has  been  destroyed,  and  the  Alani 
have  penetrated  into  the  valley  of  the  Ebro.  While  the  Barbaric 
world  is  making  this  step  forward,  Roman  commerce  has  fallen 
back;  her  traders  no  longer  dare  venture  into  the  lands  of  the 

1  Scythian  coin  struck  at  Olbia  ( Dictionn .  numism.  vol.  i.  p.  667,  No.  1,268). 

2  Capit.,  Ant.  9. 

8  Boeckh,  C.  I.  G.  No.  2,091.  After  the  year  250  a.  d.  we  hear  no  more  of  Olbia 

4  See  Vol.  V.  pp.  331  et  seq. 


188 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


North.  Imperial  coins  found  in  these  regions  are,  with  a  single 
exception,  pieces  of  date  anterior  to  the  third  century.1 

Upon  the  Black  Sea,  the  Icings  of  the  Cimmerian  Bosphorus 
being  no  longer  able  to  do  police  duty  for  Rome,  piracy  reappeared. 
In  Asia  the  national  and  religious  revolution  effected  by  the 
Sassanidae  was  the  cause  of  another  danger,  and  these  threatening 
events  occurred  at  a  time  when  the  Roman  power  of  resistance 
had  diminished.  The  dark  days  were  beginning. 


II.  —  The  Roman  Army. 

It  has  been  a  common  remark  that  the  nations  included 
within  the  Roman  Empire  were  old,  that  life  had  exhausted  them, 
that  their  blood  was  impoverished,  and  that,  following  the  common 
law  of  living  things,  they  had  reached  a  condition  of  senility,  —  the 
stage  preceding  death.  These  reasons,  furnished  by  the  convenient 
doctrine  of  historic  fatality,  may  formerly  have  appeared  satisfac¬ 
tory  ;  at  the  present  day  there  must  be  made  a  more  profound 
examination  of  the  morbid  symptoms,  which  errors  produced,  and 
wisdom  could  have  prevented. 

And  first,  the  danger  appeared  so  great  on  the  frontiers  only 
by  reason  of  the  interior  situation. 

It  is  no  Hannibal  at  the  gates  of  Rome ;  the  enemy  who  are 
approaching  are  only  hordes  whom  the  ancient  Roman  legions 
could  have  easily  driven  away.  In  the  first  century  of  the  Chris¬ 
tian  era  the  Marcomanni,  in  the  second  the  Dacians,  were  as 
formidable  as  the  Goths  are  now,  and  the  Germans  of  the  West 
had  been  as  eager  as  are  the  Frankish  and  Alemannic  bands  tc> 
invade  Gaul  or  Italy.  They  were  prevented  from  doing  so  because 
at  that  time  the  Roman  world  had  as  leader,  together  with  an 
army  still  worthy  of  itself,  a  great  man,  whose  reign  lasted  twenty 
years.  After  him  another,  for  an  equal  length  of  time,  watched 
over  the  Empire  and  the  frontiers.  Under  the  mighty  hand  of 

1  Note  by  M.  de  Witte  to  the  Hist,  de  la  monn.  rom.  iii.  116.  He  ought,  however, 
.also  to  say  that  the  base  coin  of  copper  and  silver  at  this  time  issued  by  the  imperial  mints 
could  be  forcibly  circulated  only  in  the  Empire.  Nations  outside  would  naturally  refuse  this 
token-money,  which  had  no  intrinsic  value.  (See  sect.  iv.  of  this  chapter.) 


THE  EMPIRE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  THIRD  CENTURY.  189 


ffiWWCCIVS  -si 
^FPQLLfA:,::^;. 

WMAVStvS'PStt 

®TIA'Wfi^Ed^ 

mnc  hHMmm 

miwviPmM 


Trajan  and  that  of  Hadrian  the  Barbaric  world  bent  the  knee. 
Severus  still  held  it  motionless  and  timid.  But  now  there  were 
boys  where  there  had  been  men;  fools  were  in  the  place  of  the 
wise  ;  reigns  of  a  few  days’  length  had 
followed  those  lasting  for  years  ;  a 
policy  of  chance  had  taken  the  place 
of  a  policy  of  foresight ;  civil  and 
military  institutions  were  all  relaxed  ; 
the  government  governed  no  longer ; 

■and  the  state  tottered  upon  its  yield¬ 
ing  and  crumbling  base. 

Montesquieu  represents  the  Ro¬ 
man  Empire  at  this  time  as  a  kind 
of  irregular  republic,  somewhat  like 
the  former  Regency  of  Algiers,  in 
which  the  soldiery  at  will  appointed 
and  deposed  the  Dey.  The  remark 
is  just ;  the  Roman  people  never 
employing  their  electoral  right,  and 
the  Senate,  having  suffered  its  right 
to  be  wrested  from  it  by  the  prae¬ 
torians,  —  the  armies  of  the  frontiers 
had  now  deprived  the  praetorians 
of  this  lucrative  opportunity.  The 
thing  appears  to  us  shameful,  and 
so  it  is ;  but  it  was  inevitable  that 
the  military  power,  which  alone 
survived  amid  the  ruin  of  the  other 
institutions  of  Augustus,  should  dom¬ 
inate  all.  Contemporaries  were  not 
surprised  at  this.  During  centuries  the  army  had  been  the 
Roman  people  under  arms,  and  the  recollection  of  this  fact  was 
not  yet  completely  effaced ;  even  made  up  as  it  now  was,  the 
army  which  defended  the  Empire  was  the  only  body  which  appeared 


LEGIONARY  FOOT-SOLDIER,  STANDARD- 
BEARER.1 


1  Found  at  Mayence,  and  preserved  in  the  museum  of  that  city.  On  the  left  shoulder 
Luccius  bears  a  helmet  with  lowered  visor ;  a  long  and  a  short  sword  hang  at  his  belt ;  he 
holds  in  the  left  hand  his  buckler,  and  in  the  other  the  standard  adorned  with  the  civic 
■crown.  Cf.  Lindenschmit,  Tracht  und  Bewaffnung  des  romischen  Heeres  waihrend  der  Kaiser - 
zeit,  etc.,  pi.  iii.  fig.  1,  and  p.  19. 


190 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


worthy  to  act  for  it.  Saint  Jerome  thought  thus,  for  he  compares 
the  election  of  the  bishop  by  the  priests  to  the  election  of  the 
Emperor  by  the  soldiers. 

Unfortunately  the  new  army  is  very  different  from  the  old. 
It  was  the  infantry  of  the  legions  that  had  conquered  the  world ; 
but  that  infantry  is  now  despised,  and  —  a  certain  sign  of  weakness 
in  military  matters  —  the  cavalry  becomes  every  day  more  and 
more  important.  It  almost  equals  the  infantry  in  number,  while 
in  the  time  of  Polybius,  by  a  contrary  excess,  the  legion  had  but 


CARTS  FOR  TRANSPORTATION  OP  BAGGAGE  (POMPEII). 


one  horseman  to  ten  foot-soldiers.1  Commanders-in-chief  of  cavalry 
are  appointed,  —  Balista  under  Macrianus,  Aureolus  under  Gallienus, 
Aurelian  under  Claudius  II.,  Saturninus  under  Probus ;  and  this 
title  gave  them  great  authority.  The  Barbarians  served  chiefly 
in  the  cavalry ;  and  its  increase  shows  how  the  foreign  element 
was  also  increasing  in  the  Roman  army. 

At  the  same  time  the  camp  began  to  be  hampered  by  an  enor¬ 
mous  baggage-train.  A  letter  of  the  Emperor  Valerian  shows 
what  the  commander  of  a  legion  required  annually  for  his  military 
household,  —  715  bushels  of  corn,  1,430  of  barley,  13  cwt.  of  pork, 
400  gallons  of  old  wine,  300  skins  for  tents,  etc.,2  without  counting 


1  Marquardt,  Handb.  ii.  584,  and  Mem.  de  l’ Acad,  des  inscr.  et  belles-lettres,  xxv.  473. 
According  to  General  Rogniat,  the  proportion  ought  to  be  one  in  six ;  according  to  Na¬ 
poleon,  one  in  four.  This  varies  according  to  the  character  of  the  country  where  the  war 
is  carried  on.  At  the  present  time  it  is  one  in  four  in  the  French  army  (Budget  of  1877). 

2  “We  have  intrusted  to  Claudius  the  tribuneship  of  the  Fifth  Martian  legion.”  (It  will 
be  noticed  that  at  this  epoch  the  commanders  of  the  legions  were  only  tribunes.)  “  You  will 
eive  to  him  out  of  our  private  treasure  for  his  annual  salary,  3,000  modii  of  corn  ”  (the  modius 
being  very  nearly  a  peck),  “  6,000  of  barley,  2,000  pounds  of  pork ;  3,500  sextarii  of  old  wine  ” 
(the  sexlarius  being  about  a  pint  and  a  half),  “  150  sextarii  of  good  oil,  600  of  oil  of  second 


THE  EMPIRE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  THIRD  CENTURY.  191 


the  pay,  which  was  25,000  sesterces  in  good  gold  pieces,1  at  a 
time  when  commerce  had  only  debased  coin  at  its  command.2  We 
see  further  what  onerous  and  sometimes  singular  dues  they 
received  from  the  state,  and  can  estimate  also  what  crushing 
burdens  were  imposed  on  the  treasury  by  all  these  favors,  often, 
moreover,  doubled  and  trebled.  In  giving  to  Probus  the  office  of 
Governor  of  the  East,  the  Emperor  Tacitus  gave  him  five  times 
more  than  the  usual  salary  of  this  office.  The  impedimenta  of 
the  officers  corresponded,  of  course,  with  that  of  the  commander ;  and 
it  is  easy  to  see  how,  retarded  by  such  enormous  baggage,  the  Roman 
army,  notwithstanding  its  numerous  cavalry,  could  scarcely  ever  come 

quality;  200  modii  of  salt,  150  pounds  of  wax;  a  sufficient  quantity  of  hay,  straw,  vinegar, 
fruits,  and  vegetables ;  300  skins  to  make  tents,  six  she-mules,  three  horses,  ten  camels,  and 
nine  mules  annually;  50  pounds  of  silver  ware  and  150  gold  philips  ”  ( aurei )  “  of  our  coinage 
annually,  and  at  the  new  year  160  trientes  ”  (a  third  of  the  aureus).  “  You  will  give  him  eleven 
pounds  weight  of  pots  and  jars  for  wine,  eleven  more  of  kitchen  utensils  ;  two  red  military 
tunics  annually,  two  silk-trimmed  cloaks,  two  clasps  of  gilded  silver,  one  of  gold  with  copper 
point,  a  shoulder-belt  of  gilded  silver,  a  ring  with  two  stones  weighing  an  ounce,  a  bracelet 
seven  ounces  in  weight,  a  collar  weighing  a  pound,  a  gilded  helmet,  two  bucklers  embossed 
with  gold,  a  cuirass  (which  he  will  return),  two  Herculean  lances,  two  short  javelins,  two 
reaping-hooks,  four  others  for  hay;  a  cook  (whom  he  will  return),  two  of  the  most  beautiful 
female  captives,  a  white  garment  of  half  silk,  and  another  of  Girba  purple,  an  under-tunic  of 
Mauretanian  purple,  a  secretary  (whom  he  will  return),  an  architect  (whom  he  will  return), 
two  pairs  of  Cyprus  cushions  for  the  table, *two  under-tunics  without  borders,  two  sheets,  a 
toga  (which  he  will  return),  a  laticlave  (which  he  will  return),  two  footmen  who  will  be 
always  at  his  orders,  a  carpenter,  a  praetorian  steward,  a  water-carrier,  a  fisherman,  a  pastry¬ 
cook ;  1,000  pounds  of  wood  daily,  if  there  is  enough,  otherwise,  as  much  as  the  locality  can 
furnish  ;  four  shovelfuls  of  charcoal  daily,  a  bath-man,  and  the  wood  necessary  for  hot  baths, 
failing  which,  he  will  be  obliged  to  employ  the  public  thermae.  You  will  furnish  at  your 
discretion  other  things  of  minor  importance  ;  but  you  will  not  fix  their  value,  so  that  if  any 
article  be  lacking,  he  could  not  require  its  equivalent  in  money”  (Treb.  Pollio,  Claud.  14). 
See  also  what  Valerian  ordered  the  urban  prefect  to  furnish  daily  to  Aurelian  during  his 
stay  in  Rome,  without  counting  what  was  supplied  him  by  the  prefects  of  the  treasury  (Vopis- 
cus,  Aur.  9).  The  French  regulations  furnish  a  general  of  division  for  campaign  rations: 
2,465  kilos  of  pork,  175  of  rice,  48.75  of  salt,  61.25  of  sugar,  46.75  of  coffee,  730  litres  of  wine. 
This  allowance  is  for  a  year,  and  is  furnished  daily  during  the  campaign,  and  in  time  of 
peace  is  suspended.  But  the  Romans  made  no  distinction  between  the  peace  and  war  foot¬ 
ing,  so  that  the  enormous  allowances  enumerated  above  were  permanent,  while  the  French 
treasury  supports  this  expense  only  in  time  of  war.  Under  Louis  XV.  the  French  army  had 
enormous  baggage.  The  ordinance  of  March  9,  1756,  gave  each  lieutenant-general  thirty 
horses,  and  each  colonel  fourteen ;  and  they  actually  had  twice  that  number,  with  an  immense 
train  of  carriages  and  wagons.  Consequently  these  armies  could  not  move.  (See  the  Comte 
de  Gisors,  by  Camille  Rousset,  pp.  182  et  seq.) 

1  .  .  .  Cujus  militiae  solarium ,  in  auro  suscipe. 

2  Hist,  de  la  monn.  rom.  vol.  iii.  p.  143,  No.  1.  Probus  received  for  his  pay  as  tribune  only  100 
aurei,  and  the  remainder  in  denarii  and  sesterces  ;  but  the  total  amounted  to  28,000  sesterces, 
instead  of  25,000,  the  3,000  sesterces  additional  representing  the  difference  in  exchange,  or 
what  the  tribune  lost  in  receiving  part  of  his  pay  in  denarii  and  sesterces,  instead  of  receiving 
the  whole  in  gold. 


192 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


up  with  an  active  enemy,  who  appeared  suddenly,  and  disappeared  as 
rapidly  as  he  came. 

In  this  army  there  were  also  a  crowd  of  useless  persons  who 
on  days  of  battle  were  not  present  in  the  ranks.  It  was  regarded 
as  an  important  reform  when  Alexander  Severus  reduced  the  number 


ROMAN  HORSEMAN.1 


of  orderlies  to  ten  for  a  legate,  six  for  a  dux,  and  four  for  a 
tribune,  —  a  proof  that  this  number  had  been  hitherto  greatly  ex¬ 
ceeded  ;  and  it  doubtless  again  was  so  in  latef  reigns,  these  restric¬ 
tive  ordinances  being  unpopular. 

Two  things  still  further  prevented  a  general  from  requiring  of 
his  troops  those  rapid  marches  which  had  so  many  times  enabled 
the  Roman  army  to  surprise  an  enemy  and  strike  decisive  blows. 
The  soldiers  had  been  accustomed  to  carry  with  them  provisions 

1  Roman  horseman,  found  at  Bonn  and  preserved  in  the  museum  of  that  city  (Linden- 
schmit,  np.  cit.  pi.  vii.  No.  1). 


THE  EMPIRE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  OE  THE  THIRD  CENTURY.  193 


for  seventeen  days,  unless  they  were  in  an  enemy’s  country. 
Alexander  relieved  his  legionaries  of  this  burden,  and  established 
their  camps  in  such  a  way  that  they  could  receive  their  provisions 
without  fatigue.  On  a  march,  mules  and  camels  carried  the  sup¬ 
plies  ;  but  this  required  another  train  to  supply  the  beasts  of  burden 
and  their  drivers  :  thus  the  line  of  impedimenta  lengthened,  and  the 
army  became  very  unwieldy.  Moreover  the  order  of  battle  was 
changed,  and  the  soldiers’  arms  were  modified.  As  from  day  to  day 
the  number  of  Barbarians  in  the  army  increased,  it  had  become 
necessary  to  abandon  the  earlier  organization  of  the  legion,  which 
required  a  mathematical  precision  in  manoeuvres  and  much  skill  in 
camp  labors.  The  quality  of  the  soldier  deteriorating,  less  was 
asked  from  individual  experience,  more  from  collective  power. 
Caracalla  had  organized  a  Macedonian  phalanx,  and  Alexander 
Severus  increased  it  to  thirty  thousand  men,  —  a  dense  mass,  difficult 
to  break  into,  but  difficult  also  to  move, 
and  in  which  much  strength  was  wasted. 

,  these  soldiers,  so  busy  with  mak¬ 
ing  themselves  comfortable,  and  to  whom 
so  much  was  necessary,  found  the  weapons 
of  the  republican  legionaries  far  too  heavy  ; 
they  required  a  smaller  buckler,  less  fa¬ 
tiguing  to  their  enfeebled  arms,  and  the 
iron  cuirass  and  helmet  became  an  insup¬ 
portable  burden,  from  which  they  begged 

A  #  00  DROMEDARY  CARRYING  BAGGAGE.1 

the  Emperor  Gratian  to  relieve  them.2 

It  had  been  now  many  years  since  the  semestrial  tribunes 
had  actively  fulfilled  the  law  requiring  of  them  a  period  of  ser¬ 
vice  in  the  legions,  and  the  senators  were  extremely  disinclined  to 
camp  life.  We  read  that  one  of  them  obtained  from  Commodus 
exemption  in  the  matter  of  military  service;3  Caracalla  excused 
them  all  from  it ;  Gallienus  forbade  it  to  them ; 4  and  an  old  author 
is  surprised  at  finding  a  young  man  of  good  family  in  the  service.5 

1  Bas-relief  from  the  Column  of  the  Emperor  Theodosius  at  Constantinople. 

2  Vegetius,  i.  20.  The  phalanx  did  not  last. 

3  Borghesi,  GZuvres  compl.  v.  311;  L.  Renier,  Mel.  d’epigr.  p.  18.  Alexander  Severus  had 
thought  of  making  a  similar  rule  (Lamprid.,  Alex.  45). 

4  Aur.  Victor,  De  Caes.  33 :  .  .  .  Ne  imperium  ad  optimos  nobilium  transferetur,  senatum 
militia  vetuit,  etiam  adire  exercitum. 

5  Id.,  Valer.  32  :  .  .  .  Quanquam  genere  satis  claro. 

VOL.  VII.  13 


194 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


The  decurions  of  the  provincial  cities  demanded  the  same  privilege 
as  the  Roman  senators,  and  the  law,  sanctioning  this  inside  deser¬ 
tion,  closed  the  army  against  them  forever.1  It  was  the  whole 

aristocracy,  great  and  small, 
which,  in  an  empire  found¬ 
ed  by  arms,  and  incapable 
of  maintaining  itself  with¬ 
out  their  aid,  now  refused 
to  bear  them. 

The  effects  of  this  change 
began  to  appear  about  the 
middle  of  the  third  century. 
The  sons  of  Roman  and 
provincial  senators,  who  had 
hitherto  filled  the  great  mil¬ 
itary  and  civil  offices,  were 
replaced  in  the  army  by 
men  of  low  degree.  Some 
of  these  soldiers  of  fortune 
became  able  generals ;  but 
for  the  most  part  they  were 
men  of  ignoble  ambition, 
who,  destitute  of  the  pat¬ 
riotic  pride  of  the  early 
consuls,  presently  tore  the 
Empire  into  thirty  pieces, 
that  they  might  each  for 
an  instant  be  adorned  witli 
a  rag  of  the  purple. 

The  separation  of  the 
civil  and  military  orders, 
whose  union  had  made 
the  fortune  of  the  Republic 
and  formed  the  great  administrations  of  the  early  Empire,3  is  still 

1  Constitution  of  Diocletian,  in  the  Codex  Just.  xii.  34,  2,  and  maintained  by  his  succes¬ 
sors.  Cf.  Codex  Theod.  viii.  4,  28,  anno  423,  and  Codex  Just.  x.  31,  55 :  Si  quis  decurio  ausus 
fuerit  ullam  affectare  militiam  ...  ad  conditionem  propriam  retrahatur ,  anno  436. 

2  Found  at  Wiesbaden  and  preserved  in  the  museum  of  that  city  (Lindenschmit,  op.  cit.). 
a  See  Yol.  VI.  p.  197. 


THE  EMPIRE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  THIRD  CENTURY.  105 


further  marked  by  the  creation  of  a  new  grade,  that  of  dux,  or 
general-in-chief  having  no  territorial  authority,  and  consequently 
having  no  civil  interests  to  protect.  This  measure,  which  is  seen 
dawning  under  Septimius  Severus,  and  became  established  in  a  gen¬ 
eral  manner  in  237  a.  d.,1  was  useful,  for  it  has  endured  to  this 
day  ;  but  with  the  condition  that  the  high  military  posts  should  be 
assigned  only  to  men  worthy  of  holding  them,  and  the  further 
condition  that  military  honors  should  never  open  the  way  to  high 
civil  office.  But  Macrinus  gave  to  two  freedmen  the  government 
of  Dacia  and  Pannonia,  and  to  a  former  spy,  who  knew  not  how 
to  read,2  the  consulship  and  the  office  of  urban  prefect.  A  few 
years  later  a  man  of  mixed  race,  Getan  and  Alanian,  a  mere  soldier, 
who  had  spent  his  life  in  the  camps,  was  invested  with  the  purple 
of  the  Caesars ;  and  lie  by  whom  this  Emperor  was  overthrown 
was  himself  the  son  of  a  blacksmith.3 

This  army,  now  forbidden  to  the  nobility  of  the  Empire,  and  from 
‘which  citizens  even  were  shortly  to  be  debarred,  was  recruited  from 
the  dregs  of  the  provincial  population.  Since  the  time  of  Septimius 
Severus  a  jurisconsult  could  say :  “  Formerly  the  military  service 
was  obligatory,  and  he  was  punished  with  death  who  did  not 
respond  to  the  call.  Now  we  have  abandoned  this  severity,  because 
our  cohorts  are  recruited  from  volunteers.” 4  But  these  volunteers 
were  worthless  wretches  who  had  neither  household  gods  nor 
homes,  like  those  vagabonds  with  whom  in  the  last  century  the 
recruiting  officers  of  the  French  army  filled  their  regiments,  where 
they  became  the  soldiers  of  Rossbach.  There  was  indeed  a  method 
of  recruiting,  or,  more  properly,  of  conscription,  —  every  city  was 
required  to  furnish  a  definite  number  of  men  and  horses ;  and  this 
was  a  tax  upon  property.  Both  were  obtained  as  cheaply  as  pos¬ 
sible,  and  delivered  over  to  the  recruiting  officer  {productio  tironum 
et  equorum).  The  following  words  are  in  the  text  of  the  law,  un¬ 
der  the  head  of  municipal  obligations :  “  The  furnishing  of  recruits, 
horses,  and  other  animals  or  necessary  things  ...  is  a  personal 
obligation.”  5 

1  See  the  senatus-consultum  sent  at  this  date  to  the  proconsuls  and  military  chiefs  (Capit., 
Mciximin,  15).  2  Dion,  lxxviii.  14. 

3  Pupienus  was,  it  is  said,  the  son  of  a  blacksmith  or  a  wheelwright. 

4  Arrius  Menander,  Digest ,  xlix.  16,  4,  sec.  10. 

®  Arcadius  Charisius,  in  the  Digest,  1.  4,  18,  sec  13. 


196 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


Besides  these  soldiers  furnished  by  contract,  there  were  others  who 
were  an  actual  danger  to  the  statd,  —  those  obtained  from  among  the 
nations  whom  the  army  had  to  fight.  Aurelius  Victor,  speaking  of 
the  legions  of  that  time,  writes :  “The  soldiers  —  the  Barbarians,  I 
had  almost  said.”  1  When  Aurelian  was  intrusted  with  the  defence  of 
Thrace,  the  Emperor  gave  him  a  legion ;  but  also,  three  hundred 
Ituraean  archers,  six  hundred  Armenians,  one  hundred  and  fifty 
Arabs,  two  hundred  Saracens,  four  hundred  men  of  Mesopotamia, 
and  eight  hundred  cataphracti  (men  clad  in  mail),  who  were  to 
come  from  the  same  region ;  and  to  show  him  that  he  could  count 
on  capable  subordinates,  Valerian  wrote  to  him :  “  You  will  have 
with  you  Hartomund,  Haldegast,  Hildemund,  and  Cariovix,”  2  —  all 
Germans.  At  the  battle  of  Emesa,  in  272,  one  of  the  best 
generals  in  the  army,  Pompeianus,3  was  a  Frank.  The  Barbaric 
origin  of  many  others  is  concealed  under  Roman  names.  These 
Lembazii,  Riparenses,  Castriani,  and  Dacisci,  who  at  that  time 
formed  the  entire  garrison  of  Rome,  were  certainly  not  all  men 
of  the  old  provinces.4  The  Roman  army  was  composed,  therefore, 
in  the  different  ages  of  its  history, ’in  the  following  manner,  —  first, 
of  citizens ;  then,  of  Italians ;  then,  of  provincials ;  and  now  the 
Barbarians  are  entering :  it  is  a  descending  scale. 

Following  the  able  policy  of  the  Republican  Senate,  the 
Emperors,  in  concluding  a  treaty  with  the  Goths  or  Vandals, 
stipulated  that  the  children  of  the  Barbarians  should  be  given  up 
as  hostages,  and  received  them,  both  boys  and  girls,  into  the 
noblest  houses  in  Rome.  The  boys  were  educated  like  the  Roman 
youth,  and  the  girls  were  married  to  Roman  officers,  in  the 
intention  that  these  wives  should  keep  their  husbands  informed 
of  what  was  going  on  over  the  frontier.  Hunila  was  of 
royal  blood  among  the  Goths :  Aurelian  gave  her  a  handsome 
dowry  and  married  her  to  Bonosus,  one  of  his  generals,  —  a 
valiant  boon  companion,  who  in  a  battle  of  cups  defeated  all  the 
Barbarians  and  plucked  from  them  their  most  secret  thoughts.5 


1  Aur.  Victor,  De  Caes.  37:  Militibus  ac  paene  barbaris.  After  defeating  an  army  of 
Goths,  Claudius  II.  selected  a  number  to  fill  the  gaps  in  his  cohorts.  Ten  years  later  Probus 
incorporated  sixteen  thousand  Germans  into  his  legions ;  all  the  Emperors  did  the  same.  Under 
Theodosius  Barbarians  were  more  numerous  than  Romans  in  the  Roman  army. 

2  Vopiscus,  Aur.  11.  3  Saint  Jerome,  Chron.  ad  ann.  272. 

4  Vopiscus,  Aur.  38.  6  Id.,  Bon.  14. 


THE  EMPIRE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  THIRD  CENTURY.  197 


Certainly  there  is  no  heroism  in  military  virtues  like  these ; 
but  there  was  not  a  hero 
left  under  the  standards. 

In  the  time  of  Alexander 
Severus  the  Syrian  legions 
declined  to  fight  against  the 
Persians,1  and  at  Trebizond 
and  Chalcedon,  Romans 
more  numerous  than  the 
Goths  lied  before  them.2 
Finally,  from  among  these 
men  who  resembled  the 
soldiers  of  Caesar  in  noth¬ 
ing  except  their  costume, 
went  out  deserters  wdio  car¬ 
ried  over  to  the  enemy  the 
secret  of  Roman  tactics, 
drilled  his  troops,  forged 
his  weapons,  built  his  ships, 
even  constructed  for  him 
engines  of  war  wherewith 
to  attack  fortresses.  At 
the  siege  of  Philippopo- 
lis  the  Goths  made  use  of 
all  the  engineering  contriv¬ 
ances  known  to  the  Romans 
of  the  time.3  Implacable, 
as  traitors  are  to  those 
whom  they  have  betrayed, 

...  ITURAEAN  ARCHER.4 

these  men  incited  inva¬ 
sions,  showed  the  way,  and  took  the  lead  in  pillage,  while  their 


1  Dion,  lxxx.  4.  He  adds  that  they  were  disposed  to  go  over  to  the  enemy. 

2  See,  in  Zosimus,  the  invasion  of  Asia  Minor  by  the  Goths  and  Scythians  in  the  time  of 
Valerian.  Jordanes  says  (16)  of  deserting  legionaries  in  the  time  of  Decius  and  of  Philip: 
.  .  .  Milites  ad  regis  GotTiorum  auxilium  confugerunt.  A  multitude  of  the  soldiers  of  Niger 
had  gone  over  to  the  Parthians  ;  and  to  leave  the  door  open  for  their  return,  Severus  had 
modified  the  terrible  penalties  denounced  by  law  against  deserters. 

3  See  Dexippos,  No.  2,  in  vol.  iii.  p.  678,  of  the  Fragmenta  Jiistoricum  Graecorum  (Didot). 

4  The  inscription  is  as  follows:  MONIBVS  JEROMBALI  F[ilius]  MIL[es]  COII[ortis] 
I  ITVRAEOR[um]  ANN[orum]  L.  STIP[endiorum]  XVI  H[ic]  S[itus]  E[st].  Monument 


198 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


comrades  remaining  under  the  standards  made  and  unmade  empe¬ 
rors.  It  was  a  deserter  who,  in  259,  guided  the  Goths  in  the 
conquest  of  Bithynia,  and  it  was  perhaps  a  military  revolt  which 
gave  up  to  the  Persians  the  Emperor  Valerian.1 

Thus  we  see  the  standard  is  lowered  among  the  soldiers, 
as  it  is  among  the  officers,  and  consequently  in  the  government. 
And  whose  is  the  fault?  It  is  the  fault  of  the  citizens  of  every 
rank,  who  will  no  longer  endure  the  military  service,  and  of  the 
rulers,  who  know  not  how  to  compel  them  to  it.  We  have  already 
remarked  that  the  appearance  of  an  excellent  military  organization 
always  marks  the  advent  of  a  new  dominion,  for  the  reason  that 
the  army  in  many  respects  sums  up  in  itself  the  civilization  of  a 
people.  The  empires  of  Persia  and  of  Athens,  of  Thebes  and  of 
Macedon,  of  Carthage  and  of  Rome,  succeed  each  other  in  the 
order  of  the  improvements  made  in  military  institutions.  At  the 
period  with  which  we  are  now  occupied  these  improvements  had 
reached  a  limit  which  could  be  passed  only  by  the  aid  of  sciences 
unknown  to  antiquity,  and  centuries  were  yet  to  pass  before  these  new 
sciences  should  be  discovered.  The  Greek  genius,  which  was  above 
all  speculative,  had  been  able  to  create  mathematics  and  astronomy, 
and  to  begin  mechanics  and  natural  history ;  but  mathematics  alone 
have  not  —  as  chemistry  and  physics  have  —  the  virtue  of  leading 
man  to  the  control  of  the  material  world ;  and  these  poets,  these 
philosophers,  these  artists,  who  had  made  the  civilization  of  the  old 
world,  were  not  able  to  arm  it  with  forces  conquered  from  Nature. 
To  protect  itself  against  the  Barbarians  the  Roman  world  had, 
therefore,  means  scarcely,  if  at  all,  superior  to  those  which  the 
Barbarians  employed.  When,  by  the  pensions  which  the  imperial 
government  paid  and  by  the  commerce  which  the  Roman  traders 
carried  on  in  time  of  peace,  by  the  booty  snatched  from  the  pro¬ 
vinces  and  by  the  lessons  which  deserters  taught  them,  the  Goths, 
the  Alemanni,  and  the  Franks  had  obtained  what  was  necessary 
for  the  development  of  their  metallurgic  industries,  they  were 
able  to  give  themselves  an  armament  almost  as  formidable  as 
that  which  the  Romans  possessed.  In  courage  they  had  the  superi¬ 
ority ;  and  their  religion  —  like  that  which  Mahomet  gave  to  the 

found  at  Mavence ;  now  in  the  museum  of  that  city.  Cf.  Lindenschmit,  Tracht,  etc.,  pi.  v.  No.  3, 
and  p.  22. 

1  Zonaras,  xii.  23. 


THE  EMPIRE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  THIRD  CENTURY.  199 


Barbarians  of  the  South — inspired  them  with  a  martial  ardor  which 
the  Romans  no  longer  possessed.  On  the  field  of  battle  the 
legions  had  the  advantage  of  discipline,  of  a  better  order,  and 
of  some  remaining  traditions  of  military  art ;  and  this  superi¬ 
ority  would  have  secured  to  the  Empire  constant  victories  if  these 
legions,  which  for  two  centuries  had  been  the  strength  of  the 
state  and  the  support  of  the  Emperor,  had  not  now  become 

the  scourge  of  the  one  and  the  terror  of  the  other.  Accordingly, 

the  chief  care  of  the  succeeding  rulers  will  be  to  put  an  end 

to  barrack-revolts  by  a  violent  reaction  against  the  military  order. 
To  obtain  protection  from  the  continual  attacks  of  the  soldiery 

they  will  effect  an  administrative  revolution  which  will  appear 
to  give  themselves  more  security,  but  will  not  increase  the  safety 
of  the  Empire ;  they  will  divide  the  army,  in  order  to  have  less 
reason  to  fear  it,  and  they  will  compose  it  of  Barbarians,  in  the  hope 
that  these  foreigners  will  be  more  docile. 


III.  —  The  Administration. 

In  the  age  preceding,  the  nobles  were  the  governing  class ;  a 
regular  and  slow  ascending  movement  constantly  replaced  the  Roman 
aristocracy,  which  was  becoming  exhausted,  by  a  provincial  aristo¬ 
cracy  full  of  life  and  experience.  The  latter  obtained  seats  in  the 
■Senate  as  rapidly  as  its  members,  by  their  services  in  the  cities  and 
the  legions,  gained  the  notice  of  the  Emperor ;  and  the  sons  of  these 
senators,  before  succeeding  their  fathers  in  the  curiae,  were  pre¬ 
pared  for  their  high  office  by  an  excellent  administrative  education. 
Revolutions  had  now  changed  this  favorable  condition  of  affairs. 

Enfeebled  by  the  institution  of  Hadrian’s  consilium  principis , 
and  despoiled  of  its  last  powers  by  the  imperial  council  of  Alexander 
Severus,  the  Senate  had  nothing  to  do  in  the  state ;  accordingly, 
it  mattered  little  that  Caracalla  called  Egyptians  and  Palmy¬ 
renes  to  sit  with  the  Conscript  Fathers;1  Elagabalus,  Alexander 
Severus  and  Philip,  Syrians  and  Arabs ; 2  and  Maximin,  Thracians. 

1  De  Vogue,  Inscr.  arameennes  de  Palmyre,  Nos.  20-22. 

2  Zosimus  (i.  19)  says  that  Philip  placed  all  his  relatives  in  the  higher  offices;  and  we  may 
note  that  Philip  was  the  son  of  a  Bedouin,  a  robber-cliief. 


200 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


The  higher  grades  in  the  army,  the  really  important  offices  in 
the  state,  even  the  imperial  dignity,  being  the  prey  of  soldiers, 
of  fortune,  the  Senate  and  the  public  offices  were  filled  with  the 
friends  of  the  Emperor,  who  selected  them  from  the  society  in  which 
he  himself  had  lived.  From  this  it  resulted  that  the  adminis¬ 
tration,  as  well  as  the  army,  was  recruited  from  the  lower  strata  of 
the  population;  that  the  worth  of  the  men  who  influenced  public 
affairs  diminished  •  and  that  life  everywhere  fell  to  a  lower  level. 

The  movement  of  concentration  which  had  taken  place  in 
Rome  in  the  last  centuries  of  the  Republic  went  on  in  the  pro¬ 
vincial  cities.  The  number  of  the  humiliores  increased,  that  of  the 
honestiores  diminished ;  and  in  the  provincial  cities  are  seen  only 
two  classes,  —  the  decurions  and  the  common  people.  The  latter  lost 
their  last  rights,  even  the  comitia  falling  into  desuetude ;  almost 
everywhere  the  curia,  instead  of  the  popular  assembly,  was  the 
electoral  body,1  and  the  office  of  decurion  had  become  hereditary.2 

But  the  elections  had  become  very  onerous  to  the  persons 
elected.  In  Pliny’s  time  to  enter  a  municipal  senate  did  not 
involve  great  expense ;  at  the  period  of  which  we  are  now  speaking 
a  perpetual  flamen  paid  82,000  sesterces  for  his  office.3  Of  this 
he  expended  30,000  for  a  statue  to  adorn  the  city ;  20,000  for  the 
required  gift  to  the  decurions;  and  he  promised  the  people  scenic 
games,  with  a  distribution  of  money.  Prodigalities  like  these  were 
possible  to  the  rich  only ;  consequently  it  was  inevitable  that  many 
should  seek  in  their  office  the  means  of  indemnifying  themselves, 
as  the  republican  proconsuls  had  been  wont  to  repair,  in  a  year  of 
provincial  government,  their  fortunes  ruined  by  an  election  in  the 
Forum.  The  Empire  had  put  an  end  to  this  colossal  plundering; 
and  it  was  obliged  also  to  arrest  the  extortions  of  the  municipal 
magistrates.4  But  to  do  this,  the  home  government  found  it 

1  Africa  still  held  electoral  comitia  in  the  time  of  Constantine  ( Code  Theod.  xii.  15,  1); 
and  Julian,  in  the  Misopogon,  speaks  in  the  case  of  Antioch  of  senators  elected  by  the  people, 
and  later  of  municipal  judges  who  had  no  regard  for  justice. 

2  See  in  the  Digest,  1.  2,  the  section  De  Filiis  decurionum. 

3  This  amount  was  paid  into  the  municipal  treasury  ob  honorem  flaminii  (L.  Renier,  Bull, 
de  l* Acad,  des  inscr.,  June,  1878;  inscription  of  the  time  of  Elagabalus,  recently  found  at 
Philippeville).  This,  it  is  true,  is  an  individual  instance. 

4  These  were  of  very  early  date.  Cicero  (Ad  Att.  vi.  2)  avers  that  he  had  made  those  of 
Cilicia  restore  their  ill-gotten  gains ;  and  he  adds  that  these  restitutions  enabled  the  province- 
to  pay  the  arrears  of  its  taxes. 


THE  EMPIRE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  THIRD  CENTURY.  201 


necessary  to  administer  the  provinces  which  formerly  it  had  been 
contented  with  ruling. 

The  time  of  the  family  of  the  Severi  is  that  of  the  most 
renowned  jurisconsults  of  Rome.  Now  these  incomparable  logicians 
sought,  on  their  part,  to  establish  everywhere  and  in  all  cases  the 
idea  of  the  rights  of  the  state,  —  which  rights  had  been  so  exten¬ 
sive  in  the  ancient  republics.  Yielding  to  the  influence  of  these  emi¬ 
nent  men,  as  well  as  to  the  social  necessity  of  which  we  have  just 
spoken,  the  Emperors  encroached  upon  the  municipal  liberties;  and 
this  ever-increasing  interference  of  the  imperial  agents,  which  the  cit¬ 
izens  themselves  solicited  or  made  needful,  impaired  and  destroyed 
the  vitality  of  the  municipal  rule.  The  finances  of  the  cities  are 
now  in  the  hands  of  the  Emperor’s  curators ;  the  irenarchs,  appointed 
to  maintain  public  order,  must  have  the  approbation  of  the  Emperor’s 
representative  before  entering  upon  their  office;1  new  taxes  are 
levied,  public  works  are  executed,  only  with  the  authorization  of 
the  governor,  who  annuls  the  decisions  of  the  local  senate  when 
they  are  displeasing  to  him  ( ambitiosa  deer  eta ),  and  the  elections 
are  made,  subject  to  his  approval,  when  he  does  not  himself 
directly  appoint  the  candidates.2  The  duumvirs  act  as  judges  only 
in  cases  where  a  small  sum  is  involved,  and  the  practice  of  appeal 
to  the  Roman  magistrate  will  have  soon  reduced  the  duumviral 
jurisdiction  to  nothing  more  than  the  equivalent  of  a  French  justice 
de  paix .3  Thus,  municipal  honors  losing  their  dignity,  the  obliga¬ 
tions  they  impose  seem  more  onerous,  and,  through  different  reasons, 
pagans  and  Christians  alike  avoid  them.  But  the  government, 
already  seeking  to  render  the  decurions  responsible  for  the  pay¬ 
ment  of  the  land-tax,4  watches  carefully  to  see  that  the  provincial 

1  .  .  .  Cum  a  praeside  ex  inquisitione  eligatur  ( Digest ,  1.  8,  9,  sect.  7).  See  (ibid.  xxii.  1,  33) 
the  rights  which  Ulpian  attributes  to  the  praeses  in  respect  to  the  financial  administration  of 
the  city:  .  .  .  Qui  disciplinae  publicae  et  corrigendis  moribus  praejicitur  (ibid.  1.  4,  18,  sect.  7) 
...  A  decurionibus,  judiciu  praesidum  .  .  .  nominentur  (Code,  x.  75).  An  ordinance  of 
Alexander  Severus  gives  the  governor  of  a  province  the  right  to  annul  the  election  of  a  decu- 
rion  elected  by  persons  unfriendly  to  the  latter  for  the  purpose  of  imposing  ruinous  expenses 
upon  him. 

2  Digest,  xlix.  4,  sects.  3,  4.  “  When  he  writes  to  the  Senate,”  says  Ulpian,  “  ut  Gaium 

Seium  creent  magistratum,  it  is  advice  rather  than  command.”  But  the  advice  was  as  potent 
as  an  order. 

3  [The  justice  de  paix  decides  debts  not  above  a  hundred  francs.  —  Ed.] 

4  Many  sentences  in  the  Digest  show  this  tendency  from  the  beginning  of  the  third  cen¬ 
tury  ;  but  it  is  not  until  the  time  of  Constantine  that  we  find  this  system  completely  established.  v 
For  the  municipal  organization  of  the  .first  century,  see  in  Vol.  VI.  of  this  work  the  whole  of 


202 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


senates  are  kept  full ;  a  man  seeking  to  escape  this  duty  by  taking 
refuge  in  another  city,  is  brought  back,1  or,  if  he  cannot  be  found, 
his  property  is  confiscated  for  the  use  of  the  curia.  A  criminal 
sentence  does  not  free  a  man  from  the  duty  of  service  as  decurion ; 
on  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  punishment  he  returns  into  the 
senate.2  When  it  was  a  question  of  receipts,  the  treasury  had  no 
scruples. 

The  government,  which  with  one  hand  chained  the  refractory 
to  municipal  honors,  with  the  other  threw  back  privileged  persons 
into  the  taxable  class,  in  order  to  make  sure  that  its  share  in  the 
net  revenue  of  the  cities  should  not  be  lessened.3  In  the  time  of 
their  prosperity  these  cities  had  multiplied  exemptions  from  the 
munera,  of  which  the  burden  in  the  general  impoverishment  now 
fell  heavily  upon  the  tax-payers.  The  number  of  physicians,  rhet¬ 
oricians,  and  grammarians  enjoying  immunity  was  reduced,4  and 
the  citizen  who  had  been  exempted  from  the  munera  because  of 
his  poverty  was  made  taxable,  notwithstanding  his  age,  if  fortune 
came  to  him  late  in  life.5  We  see  that  the  government  tried  its 
best  to  find  functionaries  for  the  cities,  and  resources  to  fill  their 
treasuries,  —  a  care  beneath  which  was  concealed  the  very  legitimate 
desire  to  secure  public  order  and  the  payment  of  the  state-tax. 
But  this  self-interested  solicitude  obliged  the  government  to  inter¬ 
vene  daily  more  and  more  in  municipal  affairs.  The  two  centuries 
of  the  early  Empire  show  a  just  balance  between  the  power  of  the 

sect.  2,  chap,  lxxxiii.,  and  for  the  first  attempt  upon  the  liberties  of  cities,  p.  561  of  that 
volume. 

1  Ulpian,  in  the  Digest,  1.  2.  1.  From  this  time  the  great  anxiety  of  the  government  is  to 
retain  the  rich  in  the  cities.  At  an  earlier  period  the  number  of  decurions  in  the  Italian  cities 
was  a  hundred  in  each;  we  have  seen  (Vol.  VI.  pp.  56  et  seq .)  that  this  number  was  often 
exceeded.  The  register  of  Thamagas  contained  seventy-two  names,  and  these  are  all  either 
priests  or  magistrates.  Julian  ( Misopogon )  compelled  all  the  rich  men  of  Antioch  to  enter 
the  curia  in  that  city  ;  and  many  of  his  predecessors  had  probably  done  the  same.  The  mini¬ 
mum  of  property  required  for  a  seat  in  the  curia  had  been  placed  very  low  :  it  was  twenty-five 
jugera  (Code  Theod.  xii.  1,  35,  anno  342),  or  300  solidi  (aurei)  =  $ 850  (Nov.  Valent.  III.  iii. 
sect.  4).  This  Novella,  which  is  of  the  year  439,  gives  this  as  a  very  early  figure,  secundum 
vetera  statuta. 

2  Digest,  1.  2,  2,  1  and  3;  Code,  x.  37,  1  :  Curiales  jubemus  ne  civitates  fugiant  .  .  .fundum 

.  .  .  scientes  Jisco  esse  sociandum. 

8  Code,  iv.  61,  15.  In  this  constitution  Theodosius  and  Valentinian  II.  assert  that  they 
confirm  an  ancient  custom  (prisca  institutio).  It  is  proper  to  say  that  the  levy  for  the  state 
being  made  only  after  all  the  public  services  of  the  city  had  been  provided  for,  the  two  thirds 
reserved  for  the  state  from  the  net  revenue  must  have  been  a  very  small  sum. 

4  See  Vol.  VI.  p.  107.  5  Digest,  1.  5,  5,  prooem. 


THE  EMPIRE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  THIRD  CENTURY.  203 


state  and  the  liberty  of  the  cities.  While  this  equilibrium  lasted,, 
public  prosperity  was  maintained ;  when  the  one  was  overthrown,  the 
other  perished,  and  the  moment  of  that  disaster  was  near  at  hand. 

The  government  was  not  alone  responsible  for  this  administra¬ 
tive  invasion,  which  would  have  been  salutary  had  it  been  kept 
within  limits. 

To  understand  the  slow  evolution  which  led  the  central  power 
to  exercise  so  strict  a  control  over  the  cities  in  which  narrow  and 
jealous  oligarchies  had  been  formed,  we  must  remember  how  in 
the  Middle  Ages  most  of  the  communes  came  to  an  end.  Their 
inhabitants  also  allowed  to  grow  up  in  their  midst  a  middle-class 
aristocracy,  like  that  of  the  Roman  decurions,  keeping  possession 
of  all  the  public  offices  and  employing  the  financial  resources  of 
the  city  to  promote  its  private  ends.  Abuses  necessitated  the 
intervention  of  the  suzerain,  and,  as  a  consequence,  the  suppression 
of  the  municipal  charters.  At  each  epoch  the  same  result  was 
produced  by  the  same  causes.  It  is  not  that  history  repeats  itself, 
but  there  are  analogies  which  make  ancient  facts  intelligible  in  the 
light  reflected  from  more  recent  events.  In  seeing  how  our  ancestors 
lost  their  communal  franchises  we  understand  better  how  those  of 
the  Romans  were  lost.1  In  all  times  communities  have  cared  little 
for  their  rights  when  their  interests  were  in  danger :  .  .  .  neque 
populus  ademptum  jus  questus  est.  To  put  a  stop  to  certain  dis¬ 
orders  arising  from  liberty,  an  administrative  guardianship  became 
necessary,  which,  exaggerating  its  legitimate  work,  soon  deprived  of 
life  these  once  vigorous  cities. 


1  This  is  seen  in  the  Middle  Ages  in  countless  instances ;  M.  Giry  gives  yet  another 
instance  in  the  history  of  the  commune  of  St.  Omer.  “  The  provosts  had  alienated  a  part  of 
the  city’s  territory ;  they  were  accused  of  maladministration,  they  were  suspected  of  falsehood 
and  cheating  in  their  accounts ;  and  men  grew  angry  at  seeing  the  municipal  offices  perpetuated 
in  an  aristocracy  composed  of  a  few  families,  whose  members,  succeeding  each  other  as  provosts, 
passed  the  city’s  accounts  from  hand  to  hand,  and  treated  the  municipal  finances  as  their  pri¬ 
vate  inheritance.  In  1305  the  commune  accused  the  town  magistrates,  ‘after  the  accustomed 
way,  before  the  high  and  noble  Madame  d’Artoys  de  Bourgogne  as  their  droit  juge.’  ”  Some¬ 
thing  like  this  has  been  done  in  our  time.  “  In  Ireland,  before  1848,  there  were  seventy-one 
municipal  corporations  completely  independent.  The  officers  of  these  corporations  went  so  far 
as  to  appoint  one  another.  The  corporations  of  Trim  and  Kells  alienated  their  territory  to  allow 
two  or  three  of  the  members  of  the  corporation  to  buy  it  at  a  nominal  price.  That  of  Naas 
adjudged  to  one  of  its  members,  for  a  price  of  twelve  pounds  sterling,  lands  which  were  worth 
a  hundred ;  that  of  Drogheda  decided  that  the  poor  fund  should  be  exclusively  expended  for  the 
profit  of  the  members  of  the  corporation  and  their  families.”  (Arth.  Desjardins,  De  V Alienation 
des  biehs  de  I’Etat  et  des  communes ,  p.  34). 


204 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


Another  evil  arose :  in  undertaking  to  think  and  act  for  all, 
the  imperial  government  singularly  retarded  the  transaction  of 
public  business.  A  government  may  be  remote,  an  administration 
must  be  close  at  hand  ;  and  when  a  government  administers  an 
immense  empire,  it  necessarily  administers  it  ill.  Everything  moves 
slowly,  decisions  are  founded  upon  documents,  far  from  the  parties 
interested,  and  out  of  sight  of  things  themselves,  which  sometimes 
speak  so  eloquently.  A  document  of  the  year  114  shows  that 
just  outside  the  gates  of  Rome,  under  Trajan,  it  took  ten  months 
for  the  officer  in  charge  of  the  Caerites  to  give  a  signature.1  When 
this  power,  which  has  suppressed  all  others  by  stifling  the  local 
life,  falls  into  incapable  hands,  it  must  be  in  its  turn  suppressed, 
so  to  speak,  by  revolutions.  The  Emperor  having  become  the  uni¬ 
versal  administrative  officer,  what,  under  the  Thirty  Tyrants,  will 
become  of  the  administration  ?  To  put  this  question  is  to  show 
what  mortal  weakness  must  in  those  unhappy  times  have  invaded 
the  social  body. 

Emperors  worthy  of  the  name  had  taken  pride  in  executing 
great  public  works,  —  roads,  bridges,  monuments  of  all  kinds ;  when 
they  did  not  do  it  themselves,  they  incited  the  people  of  the 
provinces  to  these  undertakings,  and  gave  them  the  assistance  of 
cohorts  and  legions  in  the  work.  But  the  armies  now  fight  with 
each  other,  and  the  rulers  who  assume  this  purple  —  dipped  in 
blood  every  six  months  —  can  think  of  nothing  else  but  how  to 
protect  their  own  lives.  The  Empire,  abandoned  to  itself,  suspends 
all  work  of  repair  or  construction ;  bridges  are  broken  down,  and 
military  roads  become  impassable.  At  the  same  time,  the  soldiers 
doing  police  duty  in  the  interior  are  called  away  to  increase  the  num¬ 
ber  of  the  troops  who  are  occupied  with  public  affairs  rather  than 
with  the  defence  of  the  country  ;  and  so  highway  robbers  re-appear, 
the  roads  are  no  longer  safe,  traffic  is  interrupted,  and  destitution 
extends. 

Although  Caracalla’s  edict  had  subjected  the  provinces  to  new 
taxes,  they  now,  ravaged  by  Barbarians  or  held  by  usurpers, 
sent  to  Rome  but  insufficient  supplies  of  money;  and  yet  the  need 
increased  daily.  The  wasting  of  the  public  revenues  by  ephemeral 

1  See  the  letter  of  the  decurions  of  Caere,  ap.  Egger,  Iiistoriens  d'  Auguste,  p.  390,  and 
Orelli,  No.  3,787. 


THE  EMPIRE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  THIRD  CENTURY.  205 


Emperors ;  the  lavish  gifts  made  to  those  adventurers  without 
personal  means  whom  it  was  necessary  to  maintain  in  luxury 
for  the  sake  of  preserving  their  doubtful  fidelity  ;  lastly,  a  scarcity 
of  money,  produced  by  the  continual  exportation  of  the  precious 
metals  into  countries  where  the  Empire  bought  much,  while  sell¬ 
ing  nothing,  —  all  these  causes  of  poverty  compelled  recourse  to 
the  most  disastrous  measures  of  bankrupt  governments.  Formerly 
the  high  offices  of  the  state  were  held  by  rich  senators,  who  drew 
upon  their  private  fortunes  in  order  to  defray  the  expenses 
of  their  public  position;  but  now  the  Emperor  is  obliged  to  fur¬ 
nish  money  for  everything.  When  Aurelian,  the  son  of  a  poor 


GAMES  OF  THE  CIRCUS.1 


freedman,  is  made  consul,  Valerian  writes  to  the  prefect  of  the 
treasury :  “  On  account  of  his  poverty,  you  will  give  him,  for  the 
games  of  the  circus  which  he  must  offer  the  people,  three  hun¬ 
dred  pieces  of  gold,  three  thousand  of  silver,  ten  tunics  of  silk, 
fifty  of  Egyptian  linen,  four  Cyprus  table-cloths,  ten  African  car¬ 
pets,  ten  Mauretanian  coverlets,  a  hundred  swine,  a  hundred  sheep ; 
you  will  cause  a  public  banquet  to  be  served  to  the  knights  and 
senators,  and  you  will  furnish  for  the  sacrifice  two  large  animals 
and  two  small  ones.” 

Later  we  shall  read  of  gifts  made  by  Gallienus  to  Claudius; 
others  obtained  from  the  Emperor  lands  which  did  not  belong  to 
him.  All  who  assumed  the  purple  in  these  days  perished  by  a 
violent  death ;  after  the  defeat,  their  partisans  were  despoiled ; 
and  as  each  province  had  its  usurper,  each  was  exposed  to 
numberless  confiscations.  The  conqueror,  not  being  able  to  pay  his 

1  From  a  mosaic  of  Barcelona. 


206 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


friends  with  gold,  paid  them  with  confiscated  property.  Claudius 
Gothicus  had  received  some.  After  his  accession  a  woman  came 
to  claim  the  possessions  of  which  she  had  been 
deprived  by  Gallienus  for  the  benefit  of  his  lieu¬ 
tenant.  “You  have  taken  what  belonged  to  me,” 
she  said ;  but  the  Emperor  answered :  “  No  ;  as  a 
subject  I  had  then  no  concern  with  the  execution  of 
,  the  laws.  Now,  however,  as  the  ruler,  it  is  my  duty 

GOLD  COIN.1  7  7  7  J  J 

to  attend  to  it,  and  I  give  you  back  your  lands.” 
To  put  a  stop  to  this  shameful  method  of  obtaining  wealth,  Clau¬ 
dius  forbade  any  one  to  solicit  another’s  property ;  that  is  to  say, 
to  denounce  as  guilty  the  innocent  for  the  sake  of  obtaining  their 
possessions.  This  edict  was  still  another  added  to  the  many  laws 
which,  like  it,  were  well  meant,  and,  like  it  also,  without  lasting 
effect. 


IV.  —  Decline  in  Industry,  Commerce,  and  the  Arts; 

Depopulation  of  the  Empire. 

The  recruiting  of  the  laboring  classes  went  on,  like  that  of 
the  administration  and  of  the  army,  under  conditions  growing  ever 
more  and  more  unfavorable.  We  may  represent  the  Roman  Empire 
as  formed  of  a  series  of  concentric  zones  extended  around  the 
Mediterranean  Sea.  Those  nearest  to  this  sea,  having  been  for 
the  longest  time  centres  of  civilization,  were  the  most  enlightened 
and  wealthy;  in  proportion  as  we  advance  inland  in  every  direc¬ 
tion  we  approach  the  barbaric  world.  Rome  began  by  obtain¬ 
ing  her  slaves  from  the  first  zone  which  conquest  gave  her.  She 
took  them  from  southern  Italy,  Sicily,  Greece,  Greek  Asia,  and 
Carthaginian  Africa  :  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  Epirotes  were 
sold  at  one  time  by  Paulus  Aemilius.  These  slaves,  frequently 
corrupt,  but  often  intelligent  and  active,  furnished  the  numerous 
freedmen  who  became  at  Rome  architects  or  physicians,  teachers  or 
artists,  and  also  the  friends  and  boon  companions  of  the  nobles. 
This  zone  being  subjugated  and  reduced  to  peace,  war  no  longer 
obtained  captives  in  it,  and  Rome  was  obliged  to  seek  her  working 


1  Claudius  Gothicus,  laurelled. 


THE  EMPIRE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  THIRD  CENTURY.  207 


class  in  the  second  zone,  and  afterwards  in  the  third.  The  great 
slave-markets  thus  fell  back  towards  the  frontiers.  The  concession 
of  citizenship  to  the  entire  Empire  fixed  them  there,  and  the  Bar¬ 
barians,  who  furnished  the  supply,  sold  the  ruder  prisoners  whom 
they  themselves  had  captured  in  the  remote  depths  of  the  bar¬ 
baric  world.  Claudius,  Aurelian,  and  Probus  brought  home  a 
countless  multitude  of  prisoners,  filling  the  great  estates  with  inca¬ 
pable  or  dangerous  laborers,  under  whose  hands  the  earth  soon 
ceased  to  give  other  than  the  most  meagre  harvests.1  The  pro¬ 
gressive  steps  of  the  Roman  decline  are  marked  by  the  continuous 
lowering  of  what  may  be  called  the  recruiting  material  of  the 
state ;  thus  the  Athenian  republic  perished,  and  the  great  Roman 
Empire  was  to  be  ruined  by  the  same  causes. 

Agriculture  suffered  from  an  evil  of  long  standing.  To  the 
political  centralization  going  on  in  the  city  and  in  the  state  had 
corresponded  a  concentration  of  fortunes  and  estates ; 2  or  rather  the 
second  fact  had  been  the  cause  of  the  first,  and  free  labor  was 
disappearing  from  the  country.  During  thirty  years  of  invasion 
and  civil  war,  agriculture  had  to  support,  beside  the  usual  burdens, 
innumerable  requisitions  and  incessant  devastations.  Under  so  many 
disasters,  which  only  the  great  landowners  could  resist,  the  petty 
proprietors  succumbed.  They  abandoned  their  hereditary  acres  to 
become  colonists,  to  take,  as  soldiers,  their  share  in  the  immense 
pillage,  or  to  seek  in  the  cities  higher  wages  and  a  life  which 
they  believed  would  be  less  severe.  In  Diocletian’s  edict,  the 
laborer,  the  shepherd,  the  muleteer  are  paid  but  a  third  as  much 
as  the  joiner,  the  mason,  and  mechanics  in  general ;  so  that  there 
came  about  an  unfortunate  situation,  which  other  ages  have  also 
seen,  —  the  urban  population  increased  at  the  expense  of  the  rural 
population.  One  class  only  had  gained  in  numbers,  —  the  prole¬ 
tariat  of  the  cities  and  of  the  country,  where  serfdom  was  now 
beoannins;  to  be  established.3 

o  o 

1  Papinian,  fifty  years  before  the  period  with  which  we  are  now  concerned,  fixed  the  legal 
price  of  slaves  at  20  aurei,  or  500  denarii  ( Digest ,  iv.  4,  31).  We  may  conclude  from  this  that 
slaves  were  becoming  scarce,  and  consequently  dear,  for  this  price  is  high  (see  Yol.  II.  p.  358, 
note  3)  ;  whereas  the  inferior  quality  of  the  slaves  of  that  time  ought  to  have  lowered  the  price. 

2  We  have  seen,  under  Nero,  that  six  landowners  divided  among  themselves  the  whole 
province  of  Africa  (Pliny,  Hist.  nat.  xviii.  6).  In  the  time  of  Nerva,  Frontinus  says  further: 
“  In  Africa  private  estates  are  as  large  as  the  whole  territory  of  cities  ”  ( Gromcitici  veter.  p.  53). 
Under  Theodosius  is  found  the  same  condition  of  things. 

3  In  respect  to  the  coloni,  see  Vol.  VI.  pp.  13  et  seq. 


208 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


Agriculture  loves  free  laborers,  and  slie  now  bad  them  no  longer  ; 
to  be  richly  productive,  she  has  need  of  the  expenditure  of  capital, 

and,  if  we  except  a  few  great 
proprietors,  this  community 
had  no  capital  to  expend : 
hence  the  ground  returned  but 
small  harvests,  and  famine 
was  always  threatening. 

Mechanical  industry  was  no 
better  off.  The  workshops, 
recruited  from  the  ignorant 
and  despised  proletariat,  pro¬ 
duced  poor  work,  and  the 
system  of  corporations  de¬ 
stroyed  competition.  Certain 
trades,  whose  existence  the 
government  made  it  a  point 
to  protect,  had  been  early 
constituted  as  monopolies,  and 
it  is  said  that  Alexander  Se- 
verus  endeavored  to  give  all 
the  trades  the  corporative 
organization,1  which  moreover 
private  individuals  took  of 
their  own  choice.  Everywhere 
traders  and  mechanics  formed 
associations,  —  the  bakers  of 
Rome  and  Ostia,  the  boatmen 
of  the  Saone  and  the  Rhone, 
the  mariners  of  the  Seine, 
ship-carpenters,  ship-brokers, 
measurers  of  corn,  and  the 
like ;  all  those  who  labored  with  their  hands  sought  security  in  union, 
and  fortune  in  the  privileges  which  they  obtained  from  the  autho¬ 
rity  or  gave  to  themselves  by  closing  the  common  market  against 
their  rivals.2 


AS  LIBRALIS  OF  LATIUM. 


1  Vol.  VI.  pp.  96  et  seq. 

2  See  Vol.  VI.  p.  107,  note  2,  the  privileges  accorded  to  the  traders  and  laborers  con¬ 
nected  with  the  mine  of  Aljustrel. 


THE  EMPIRE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  THIRD  CENTURY.  209 


Manufacturing  industry  was  still  further  slackened  by  the 
lessened  demands  of  trade  now  hampered  by  revolutions;,  by  the 
cessation  of  public  works,  by  increasing  taxation,  and  also  by 
piracy  and  robbery  on  the  highways  springing  up  again,  against 
which  the  Emperors  no  longer  made  war,  so  occupied  were  they 
with  their  own  private  quarrels.  It  fur¬ 
ther  suffered,  and  perhaps  most  of  all,  from 
an  extremely  bad  monetary  system. 

The  amount  of  silver  and  gold  in  cir¬ 
culation  in  the  Empire  was  diminishing, 

—  less  on  account  of  the  mines  being  ex¬ 
hausted  than  by  reason  of  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  their  products. 
The  working  of  mines,  so  well  conducted  under  the  Early  Empire, 
required,  in  order  to  be  kept  up  actively  with  the  processes  at  that 
time  employed,  a  resolute  discipline ;  and  for  the  existence  of 

this  discipline  it  was  essential  that  the 
Empire  should  still  have  the  strong  and 
stable  government  which  it  had  no 
longer.2  When,  in  the  reign  of  Yalens, 
the  Goths  invaded  Thrace,  all  the 
miners  escaped  to  the  Barbarians.  The 
scarcity  of  the  precious  metals  produced  disastrous  consequences. 
The  Republic  had  at  first  known  but  one  coin,  —  the  bronze  as  ;  after 
the  Punic  Wars  silver  became  the  monetary  standard  (the  sesterce 
and  the  denarius).  The  Early  Empire  had  the  gold  piece  (aureus), 
and  for  two  hundred  years  gold  was  the  chief  circulating  medium. 
Silver  came  afterwards,  and  copper  does  not  seem  to  have  been  in 
use,  for  we  find  none  in  the  treasures  buried  at  that  time.  We 

1  Denarius  of  Domitius  Calvinus  of  the  year  40  b.  c. 

2  Hirschfeld,  Die  Bergwerke,  pp.  72-91,  and  Flach,  Table  d’Aljustrel.  Under  the 
Republic  and  in  the  first  century  of  the  Empire  the  mines  of  precious  metals  and  the  quarries 
of  marble  which  belonged  to  the  state  were  farmed  out  like  the  other  revenues.  In  the  second 
century  they  were  placed  under  the  supreme  direction  of  a  procurator  Caesar  is,  assisted  by 
numerous  subordinates  for  superintendence  or  direct  management  ( probatores ).  When  anarchy 
invaded  the  government  it  also  took  possession  of  the  mines,  whence  slaves  and  criminals 
constantly  made  their  escape.  Observe  that  the  procurator  was  often  one  of  the  Emperor’s 
freedmen,  and  that  centurions,  serving,  like  our  discharged  soldiers,  in  many  civil  occupa¬ 
tions,  sometimes  had  the  superintendence  of  the  works ;  thus  for  the  marbles  of  Synnada,  in 
Phrygia,  a  centurion  had  charge  of  the  caesura ,  or  cutting  (Melanges  de  I’Ecole  frang.  de 
Rome,  August,  1882,  p.  291). 

8  Copper  coin  of  the  third  century  A.  D. :  C.  Postumus.  (J.  de  Witte,  Reclierclies  sur 
les  empereurs  qui  ont  regne  dans  les  Gaules  au  troisieme  siecle.  No.  256,  pi.  xvi.) 

14 


COPPER  COIN.3 


VOL.  VII. 


210 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


have  elsewhere  explained 1  how  it  came  about  that  the  great  repub¬ 
lican  fortunes,  the  fruits  of  conquest,  took  more  than  a  century 
to  disappear.  Public  and  private  wealth  still  lasted  under  the  Anto- 
nines.  But  in  the  third  century  both  were  seriously  impaired. 
Of  this  there  is  twofold  proof,  —  the  coins  were  debased,  and  in 
the  buried  money  of  that  time  pieces  of  gold 
become  more  and  more  rare,  and  there  is  a  great 
quantity  of  base  coin  and  of  copper.  The  aurei 
found,  differ  in  weight,  and  we  are  obliged  to  gold  coin.2 
conclude  that,  losing  its  character  of  a  representative  sign  of  value, 
the  aureus  came  to  be  only  bullion  accepted  in  trade  for  its  weight, 
so  that  traffic  went  back  to  the  time  when  buyer  and  seller  needed 
to  be  furnished  with  scales.3 

This  would  have  been  merely  an  annoyance  and  a  waste  of 
time  ;  the  debasement  of  coin  was  to  persons  engaged  in  business 

a  cause  of  perpetual  deceptions,  and  even 
of  ruin.  Under  the  Empire  the  mone¬ 
tary  unit  was  the  sesterce,  —  a  coin  equal 
in  value  to  a  quarter  of  the  denarius,  or 
one  hundredth  of  the  aureus.  Now,  the 
silver  denarius  in  the  first  years  of 
Nero’s  reign,  of  which  there  were  ninety-six  to  the  pound,  and 
almost  of  pure  metal,  contained  in  the  time  of  Alexander  Severus 
fifty  or  sixty  per  cent  of  alloy,  and  from  a  value  of  about  seven¬ 
teen  cents  had  fallen  to  that  of  about  seven.4  To  this  depreciation 
of  silver  naturally  corresponded  an  augmentation  in  the  value  of 
gold.  The  state  believed  it  wise  to  take  advantage  of  this  by 
requiring  all  taxes  to  be  paid  in  aurei.5  This  was  as  fraudulent 

1  Yol.  VI.  pp.  263  et  seq. 

2  Gold  coin  of  tlie  third  century  A.  D.  :  C.  Postumus  (J.  de  Witte,  ibid.  pi.  xvi.  No.  251)  ; 
Providence  on  the  reverse.  Quinarius  of  gold,  or  semis,  the  half  of  an  aureus.  The  quinarius 
of  silver  (or  half  denarius)  was  so  called  because  it  had  the  value  of  five  ases.  Denarii ,  says 
Yarro,  quod  denos  aeris  valebant ,  quinarii,  quod  quinos. 

3  In  the  fourth  century  the  treasury  required,  to  prevent  frauds,  that  the  tax-gatherers 
should  pay  their  receipts  in  ingots. 

4  Two  silver  pieces  of  Decius,  identical  in  appearance,  are  worth,  the  one  about  10^  cents, 
the  other  about  6  cents  (Mommsen,  Hist,  de  la  monnaie  romaine,  vol.  iii.  p.  85,  note  1). 
Accordingly,  treasury  orders  did  not,  as  we  have  seen  (p.  190,  note  2),  bear  the  definite  figures, 
so  much  money,  like  the  25,000  sesterces  which  were  originally  the  pay  of  the  legionary  trib¬ 
une,  but  a  mention  of  so  many  gold  philips  and  trientes  which,  put  together,  would  amount  to 
about  that  sum. 

5  See  on  that  point  p.  81,  note  3. 


THE  EMPIRE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  THIRD  CENTURY.  211 


as  it  would  be  now  to  refuse  to  receive  into  the  public  treasuries 
bank-notes  issued  by  the  state  at  their  face  value.  Or,  if  a  word 
less  harsh  be  preferred,  it  was  an  increase  of  taxation  such  as 
has  recently  occurred  in  great  states  where  paper  money  is  below 
par,  when  it  was  decided  that  custom-dues  be  paid  in  gold.  The 
taxpayer,  for  example,  who  owed  a  hundred  sesterces, 
could  not  pay  it,  as  before,  with  twenty-five  denarii, 
worth  to  him  in  his  daily  transactions  about  $1.75; 
he  must  give  the  tax-gatherer  an  aureus,  of  which 
the  value  was  much  greater.  After  the  year  256, 
silver  coin  contained  not  over  twenty,  and  sometimes 

J  ANTONINIANUS  OF 

only  five  per  cent  of  pure  metal.  Under  Claudius  claudius  gothi- 

CQg.l 

Gothicus,  the  Antoninianus,  the  silver  coin  most 
common  in  circulation,  was  a  mixture  of  copper,  tin,  and  lead, 
with  a  whitish  coating  which  gave  the  pieces  when  new  an  appear¬ 
ance  of  silver.  But  instead  of  a  precious  metal,  the  possessor  of 
this  piece  of  money  had  only  an  alloy  of  copper ;  it  was  nothing 

more  than  a  token.2  The  same  government 
which  condemned  the  counterfeiter  to  the 
wild  beasts,3  gave  a  forced  currency  to 
the  base  coin  which  it  put  in  circulation, 
and  punished  with  banishment  or  death 
argenteus  MiNUTULus  of  those  who  refused  to  receive  it,4  on  the 

CARACALLA.  7 

ground  that  the  Emperor’s  image  upon  the 
piece  was  competent  to  give  it  whatever  value  he  chose  to  assign 
to  it. 

The  intrinsic  value  of  the  aureus  was  reduced,  like  that  of  the 
silver  denarius :  Caesar  made  forty  to  the  pound,  Caracalla,  fifty, 
Constantine,  seventy-two ;  and  at  the  same  time  the  amount  of  pure 
metal  employed  decreased,  and  the  quantity  of  alloy  increased,  —  in 
the  first  century,  .009 ;  in  the  second,  .062  ;  in  the  third,  still  more.5 

1  From  the  Cabinet  de  France. 

2  From  Claudius  II.  to  Diocletian  there  are  only  very  few  coins  which  contain  any  silver 
at  all  (Eckliel,  vii.  475).  This  author  remarks  that  from  the  time  of  Claudius  all  the  cities 
except  Alexandria  and  three  cities  of  Pisidia  —  Antioch.  Seleucia,  and  Sagalassos  —  had  lost 
the  right  of  coining  money. 

3  Ulpian,  in  the  Digest,  xlviii.  10,  8. 

4  Paul,  Sent.  Recept.  v.  25,  1. 

6  Lenormant,  La  monnaie  dans  V antiquite,  i.  202.  In  respect  to  the  distinction  between 
coins  or  pieces  circulating  in  trade,  —  commemorative  medals,  like  the  immense  gold  piece 


212 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  2G8  a.  d. 


The  Empire,  therefore,  was  in  a  condition  like  that  of  France 
in  her  most  evil  days,  —  about  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  cen¬ 
tury  ;  and  it  can  with  justice  be 
said  that  from  the  reign  of  Gallie- 
nus  to  the  middle  of  that  of 
Diocletian,  the  monetary  system 
of  the  Romans  was  a  permanent 
bankruptcy.1  Under  the  infliction 
of  these  constant  disturbances  of 
the  currency,  —  discouraging  both 
to  the  producer  and  the  trader, 
—  labor  diminished  ;  and  we  have 
seen  that  from  other  causes  the 
article  produced  lost  in  quality 
as  well  as  quantity. 

In  the  region  of  intellectual 
and  artistic  labor  the  decline 
was  even  more  manifest. 

The  religion  of  the  beautiful 
disappeared  with  the  gods  who 
had  inspired  it,  and  in  its  ruin 
dragged  with  it  art,  which  always 
corresponds  to  the  condition  of 
men’s  minds,  because  in  order 
to  produce  its  work  it  requires 
to  be  solicited  by  the  public  taste. 
It  had  besides  a  formidable  ene¬ 
my.  In  its  first  age  Christianity 
was  iconoclastic;  it  anathematized 
pagan  art,  forbidding  the  devout  to  cultivate  it,  and  wherever  it 
could  do  so,  destroyed  the  statues  of  the  gods.  The  Bishop  of  Caesarea, 


FAUN  OF  ROSSO  ANTICO.2 


of  Eucratidas,  imperial  medallions  employed  as  presents  to  great  personages  at  the  epoch  of 
military  gifts,  and  often  worn  around  the  neck  on  a  collar,  as  a  decoration ;  the  pieces  made 
for  religious  offerings  or  for  prizes  at  certain  sacred  games;  those  worn  as  talismans; 
theatrical  tesserae,  tokens,  and  the  like,  —  see  the  Introduction  to  the  first  volume  of 
Lenormant’s  work  just  cited.  The  custom  of  women  wearing  coins  about  the  neck,  or  set 
as  ornaments,  is  very  ancient. 

1  Mommsen,  Hist,  de  la  monnaie  rom.  vol.  iii.  p.  144,  and  Lenormant,  ibid.  vol.  i.  pp.  172 
and  184. 

2  Statue  found  at  Hadrian’s  Villa  (Vatican,  Museo  Pio-Clementino,  Cabinet,  No.  433). 


THE  EMPIRE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  THIRD  CENTURY.  213 


in  the  fourth  century,  would  not  allow  the  figure  of  Christ  to  be 
represented ;  and  the  rude  frescos  of  the  catacombs  show  what 
painting  became  in  Christian  hands.  Art,  which  was  so  useless  to 
the  new  faith,  was  no  more  serviceable  to  what  remained  of  the  old. 


CONICAL  STONES  REPRESENTING  MELKARTH-BAAL,  THE  PHOENICIAN  HERCULES.1 


What  could  it  do  with  the  black  stone  of  Elagabalus,  the  conical 
deities  of  the  Syrians,  even  with  the  Ephesian  Diana  of  the  fifty 
breasts,2  or  with  the  Olympians  made  objects  of  caricature,  like 
the  beautiful  Ganymede  represented  as  an  ape  at  the  feasts  of  Isis  ? 3 

1  Stones  found  at  Malta,  of  which  one  is  in  the  Museum  of  the  Louvre.  The  Phoenician 
Hercules  was  represented  in  his  sanctuary  in  Tyre  by  two  columns  of  gold  and  emerald.  The 
two  cones  of  Malta  bear  the  same  inscription  in  Phoenician  and  Greek  ;  it  is  a  dedication  made 
by  two  brothers  to  Melkarth-Baal,  “the  king  of  the  city  ”  (Communication  of  M.  Ph.  Berger). 
In  respect  to  conical  stones,  see  above,  p.  108,  note  1. 

2  See  Yol.  IV.  p.  168 ;  and  yet  the  Greeks  had  succeeded  in  giving  to  this  deformed  object 
all  the  beauty  that  it  was  capable  of  receiving. 

3  Apuleius,  Metamorphoses,  xi. 


214 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


How  could  men  have  presented  in  marble  or  in  bronze  the 
hypostases  of  the  neo-Platonists  and  the  confused  abstractions 

of  the  Gnostics  ?  From  the 
temple  and  the  forum,  art 
had  fallen  to  the  boudoir. 
It  at  first  maintained  itself 
by  imitating  ancient  methods. 
Bnt  this  imitation  growing 
more  feeble  as  the  models  were 
more  remote,  it  became  im¬ 
possible  to  produce  anything 
that  was  not  dull  and  af¬ 
fected.  The  inspiration  being 
lost,  nothing  remained  except 
a  handicraft;  and  the  unwor¬ 
thy  successors  of  the  masters 
worked  by  contract  for  an 
impoverished  and  coarse  com¬ 
munity  which  had  lost  all 
taste  for  the  elegance  of  earlier 
days.  Compare  the  busts  of 
this  period  with  the  statues 
of  the  Early  Empire,1  or  the 
sculptures  of  the  Arch  of  Con¬ 
stantine  with  those  of  the  Antonine  age,  —  even  the  pretty  trifles,  the 
exquisite  vases,  the  graceful  furniture  of  Pompeii,  with  the  ceramics 
and  the  heavy  ornamentation  of  the  end  of  the  third  century,  —  and 
it  will  be  evident  that  barbarism  is  approaching.2 

Stern  preachers  of  philosophy  and  religion  had  driven  laughter 
away,  while  public  calamities  had  put  an  end  to  happiness,  and 


GANYMEDE  AS  AN  APE,  ON  A  LAMP  IN  THE 
MUSEUM  OF  THE  LOUVRE. 


1  Eckhel  (vii.  458)  says  of  the  bronze  coins  of  Postumus,  Victorinus,  and  Tetricus: 
Ultimam  plerique  barbariem  redolent,  sic  ut  non  in  provincia  .  .  .  sed  Sarmatas  inter 
Gothosque  .  .  .  percussi  videri  possint.  Many  others  of  these  Emperors  are  coins  of  the  Early 
Empire  re-minted  (De  Witte,  Revue  numism.  vi.  1861).  At  the  same  time,  M.  de  Witte  has 
published  many  fine  bronze  coins  of  Postumus,  and  the  difference  is  explained  by  the  diversity 
of  mints.  That  of  Lyons  especially,  which  belonged  to  the  Gallic  Emperor,  had  traditions 
and  artists  enabling  it  still  to  issue  fine  coins,  and  we  shall  see  them  until  the  close  of  the 
century. 

2  See,  in  the  Congres  arclieologique  de  France,  vol.  xlvii.  1881,  pp.  220-239,  the  remarks  of 
Dr.  Plicque  upon  the  Gallo-Roman  pottery  made  at  Lezoux  (Puy-de-Dome). 


THE  EMPIRE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  THIRD  CENTURY.  215 


art,  which  is  the  joy  of  life,  no 
sadness  of  the  Middle  Ages  was 

We  must  also  bear  in  mind 
the  danger  from  the  Barbari¬ 
ans.  The  fear  of  invasion 
obliged  the  cities,  which  had 
remained  open  during  “  the 
Roman  Peace,”  to  shut  them¬ 
selves  up  within  walls ;  and 
to  build  these  walls  they  had 
in  many  places  already  de¬ 
stroyed  the  edifices  that  more 
fortunate  generations  had  con¬ 
structed.  At  Tours,  at  Orleans, 
at  Angers,  at  Bordeaux,  at 
Saintes,  at  Narbonne,  at  Reims, 
at  Poitiers  and  in  many  other 
cities  of  Gaul,  we  find  in  the 
old  walls  fragments  of  columns 
or  entablatures,  monumental 
stones  and  inscriptions.  Themi- 
stocles  had  pursued  a  similar 
course  in  Athens,  but  Pericles 
and  Pheidias  came  after  him ; 
while  after  the  great  archi¬ 
tects  of  the  Antonines  there 
were  only  masons.1 

The  Greek  language  was 
still  written  with  elegance. 


longer  was  able  to  adorn  it:  the 
beginning. 


Oppianus  of  Cilicia  and  Ba-  candelabrum  of^ttadrian  s  villa 

brills  (if  Babrius  belongs  to 

the  third  century)  are  two  good  versifiers,  almost  two  poets ;  the 
name  of  Longinus  is  always  mentioned  with  respect ;  and  Photius, 
in  a  transport  of  generosity,  places  the  historian  Dexippos  beside 


1  De  Caumont,  Cours  d'ant.  man.  8th  part,  passim;  Batissier,  Histoire  de  Vart  monu¬ 
mental;  Revue  archeol.  November,  1877,  p.  351  ;  and  Memoires  de  la  Societe  archeol.  de  Bor¬ 
deaux,  1880,  pp.  63  et  seq. 

■  2  On  the  base,  Jupiter ;  the  other  sides  represent  Juno  and  Minerva  (Vatican,  Gallery 
of  Statues,  No.  412). 


216 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


Thucydides.  We  certainly  shall  not  give  this  honor  either  to  Dion 
Cassius  or  Herodian,  both  of  whom,  however,  have  frequently  been 
useful  to  us.  Aelian  and  Philostratus  resemble  one  another  in  their 
simple-minded  credulity ;  we  are  indebted  alike  to  Diogenes  Laertius 


CANDELABRUM  FROM  THE  HOUSE  OF  DIOMEDES  AT  POMPEII. 


and  Athenaeus  for  much  precious  information ;  and  the  vigorous  in¬ 
tellect  of  Origen  gives  promise  of  the  splendor  which  the  Greek 
Fathers  of  the  subsequent  century  will  cast  over  the  Church.  The 
Roman  world  was  turning  more  and  more  towards  the  East;  there 
is  life  nowhere  else  at  this  time. 


THE  EMPIRE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  THIRD  CENTURY.  217 


As  for  Latin  literature,  it  was  absolute  nullity.  There  were 
still  men  of  letters,  for  there  always  must  be  in  a  civilized  society. 
But  the  writers  of  the  time  saw  only  the  lesser  sides  of  things ; 
they  take  anecdote  for  history,  rhetoric  for  eloquence,  versification 
for  poetry.1  The  union,  once  so  fruitful,  between  the  genius  of 
Rome  and  that  of  Athens  no  longer  exists ;  and  this  divorce  of  the 
two  literatures  is  a  sign  which  foretells  the  approaching  separation 
between  the  two  empires.2  The  Latin  mind  grows  visibly  weaker, 
except  in  the  Church,  where  Cyprian  at  Carthage  is  the  precursor 
of  Augustine  at  Hippo. 

Moreover  the  Christians  have  also  their  share  in  the  decline 
of  the  Empire.  A  half-century  of  tranquillity  had  singularly 
increased  their  number ;  but  although  life,  which  was  enfeebled 
in  the  pagan  world,  was  ardent  in  their  communities,  they  were 
for  the  state  a  cause  of  weakness  rather  than  strength.  The 
Roman  law  punished  celibacy ;  they  honored  it.  The  great  devel¬ 
opment  of  the  monastic  system  comes  in  the  following  century ; 
but  many  believers  already  shunned  marriage,  which  their  clergy, 
as  a  rule,  avoided.3  They  lived  by  themselves,  avoiding  all  inter¬ 
course  with  the  pagans,  except  in  cases  of  absolute  necessity,  and 
abhorred  the  sacrilegious  festivals  of  the  latter.  Foreigners  in  the 
cities,  whose  honors  they  rejected,  they  were  the  same  also  in  the 
Empire,  which  they  refused  to  defend  by  arms,4  and  without  dis¬ 
pleasure  they  saw  the  approach  of  the  Barbarians.  On  the  way 
to  execution  Saint  Marianus  exclaimed :  “  God  will  avenge  the  blood 
of  the  righteous ;  I  hear,  I  see  the  white  horsemen  coming !  ” 
and  Commodianus  depicts  in  barbaric  verse  the  Goths  marching 

1  w  e  must,  however,  regret  the  Memoirs  of  Septimius  Severus,  and  also  perhaps  the  History 
of  Marius  Maximus,  often  quoted  by  the  compilers  of  the  Augustan  History ,  —  although  Yopiscus 
( Firmus ,  1)  says  of  this  writer :  Homo  omnium  verbosissimus,  qui  et  mythistoricis  se  voluminibus 
implicauit,  —  and  some  other  chroniclers  of  whom  we  know  scarcely  more  than  the  names.  There 
remain  three  verses  written  by  the  Emperor  Gallienus,  a  fragment  of  an  epithalamium  which  he 
composed  for  the  marriage  of  one  of  his  nephews.  Censorinus  wrote  his  treatise  De  Die  natali 
in  239.  Two  other  grammarians,  Nonius  Marcellus  and  Festus,  are  sometimes  said  to  belong 
to  the  third  century.  The  two  versifiers  Nemesianus  and*  Calpurnius  come  at  the  close  of  the 
century,  and  cannot  be  placed  in  the  list  of  true  poets ;  Calpurnius  is  a  very  skilful  maker  of 
verses. 

2  In  the  fourth  century  the  Eastern  bishops  and  most  illustrious  doctors  of  the  Church  were 
ignorant  of  Latin. 

3  See  on  this  subject,  pp.  54  et  seq. 

4  See  p.  48  of  this  volume,  and  also  what  is  said  bv  Aelius  Aristeides  (ii.  402,  ed. 
Dindorf)  of  Christians  who  are  unwilling  to  participate  in  the  affairs  of  the  city. 


218 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


upon  Rome  with  u  the  destroyer  king,” 1  to  bring  to  nought  the 
enemies  of  the  saints  and  to  put  the  Senate  under  the  yoke. 
Marianus  and  “  Christ’s  beggar  ”  were  right  in  announcing  to  the 
persecutors  an  approaching  expiation;  but  others  were  wrong  in 
making  themselves  the  instruments  of  it.  In  Pontus,  the  Christians 
united  with  the  Goths  to  pillage  the  pagans,  overthrow  the  idols, 
and  burn  the  temples.2  At  last  the  Emperors,  taking  alarm,  sought 
to  extripate  by  fire  and  sword  that  refractory  element  which  the 
menaces  of  the  law  and  judicial  executions  had  not  been  able  to 
hold  in  check.  Thenceforth  terror  was  to  brood  over  the  nations, 
the  purest  blood  was  to  flow,  and  something  like  a  civil  war  was 
to  be  added  to  the  foreign  war. 

The  latter  had  the  character  of  wars  among  savages.  The 
Western  provinces  have  already  witnessed  scenes  as  terrible  as 
those  of  the  American  frontier  when  the  savages  swoop  down 
upon  it,  scalping  the  men,  carrying  off  the  women,  and  leaving  the 
buildings  a  mass  of  smoking  ruins.  Everywhere  the  invaders  found, 
as  guides  to  the  richest  dwellings  and  the  best-concealed  treas¬ 
ures,  slaves  of  barbaric  origin,  who  regarded  them  as  liberators. 
Thrace  and  Greece  and  Asia  Minor  also  beheld  bloodshed  and 
devastation  and  long  trains  of  captives,  whom  the  Barbarians, 
wearied  with  expeditions  and  satiated  with  plunder,  carried  away 
with  them  to  their  encampments  in  the  North.  At  each  new 
invasion  the  ravages  extended  farther,  —  first  by  land,  then  by  sea. 


1  Commod.  episc.  A fric.  Carmen  apologeticum,  in  the  Spicilegium  Solesmense  of  Dom  Pitra, 
i.  43.  Commodianus  calls  the  Gothic  king  Apoleon,  from  aTroXkvgi,  to  ruin,  to  destroy.  “  He 
marches  upon  Rome,”  says  this  old  author,  “  with  thousands  of  Gentiles,  and  .  .  .  makes  captive 
the  vanquished.  Many  senators  shall  with  them  weep  in  chains.  .  . .  Meanwhile  these  Gentiles 
will  everywhere  cherish  the  Christians,  and,  rejoicing,  seek  them  out  as  brethren  ...”  (verses 
800-815).  From  verse  801  on,  the  Carmen  is  believed  to  have  been  written  at  the  exact  time 
with  which  we  are  now  occupied,  before  the  persecution  of  Decius  in  238.  Tertullian,  in  his 
Apol.  37,  addressed  to  the  Roman  magistrates,  calls  upon  them  to  regard  it  as  a  merit  in  the 
Christians  that  they  did  not  favor  the  attacks  of  the  Mauretanians  upon  Hadrian,  of  the 
Marcomanni  upon  Marcus  xxurelius,  of  the  Parthians  upon  Severus,  —  which  proves  that  in  his 
heart  the  idea  of  aiding  the  enemies  of  the  Empire  was  not  repugnant  to  him.  Two  centuries 
later,  Salvianus,  in  his  De  Gubernatione  Dei ,  still  extolled,  in  the  midst  of  the  calamities  of  an 
invasion,  “  the  virtues  of  the  Barbarians,  who  scorn  all  those  infamous  practices  which  the 
Romans  permit.  Vice,  which  is  with  them  the  exception,  is  the  rule  among  us.”  This  is  the 
same  spirit  which,  in  the  first  century,  led  Saint  John  to  condemn  “the  great  whore.”  See 
p.  49  of  this  volume. 

2  See  the  fifth  canon  of  Saint  Gregory  Thaumaturgus  in  Routh,  Reliquiae  sacrae,  iii.  2G2, 
who  adds :  Ista  Barbarorum  incursio  gravissimis  inter  christianos  perpetrandis  delictis  occa- 
sionem  praebuit. 


THE  EMPIRE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  THIRD  CERT  UR  Y.  21$ 


The  Goths  were  soon  to  construct  vessels  and  carry  devastation 
along  all  coasts.  “  Hordes  of  Scythians,”  says  Ammianus  Marcel- 
linus,  “  crossing  with  two  thousand  vessels  the  Bosphorus  and 
the  Propontis,  devastated  the  shores  of  the  Aegean.  .  .  .  All  the 
cities  of  Pamphylia  suffered  the  horrors  of  a  siege ;  Anchialos  wTas. 
taken ;  many  islands  were  ravaged ;  and  a  multitude  of  enemies, 
long  surrounded  Cyzicus  and  Thessalonica.  Fire  was  carried  through 
all  Macedon;  Epirus,  Thessaly,  and  Greece  suffered  invasion.”1 
The  rich  cities  bordering  the  Sea  of  the  Cyclades  were  obliged 
to  rebuild  their  walls,  which  in  two  centuries  of  peace  had  been 
suffered  to  fall  into  decay,  the  Athenians  to  resume  their  weapons, 
grown  rusty  since  the  time  of  Sylla,  and  the  Peloponnesians  to  bar 
their  isthmus  with  a  wall.2  Everywhere  was  fighting  and  blood¬ 
shed.  At  Philippopolis  a  hundred  thousand  dead  bodies,  it  was, 
said,  lay  beneath  the  ruins.  The  provinces  un visited  by  the.: 
Franks  and  Goths  had  other  plunderers ;  in  Sicily  freebooters, 
became  so  numerous  that  this  once  favored  island  seemed  ravaged 
by  a  new  Servile  war. 

Man,  directing  his  strength  against  himself,  suspended  his; 
struggle  against  the  powers  of  Nature,  which  resumed  their  sway 
and  emphasized  it  with  cruel  energy.  From  the  accumulated  ruins,, 
the  untilled  ground,  and  the  undrained  waters,  emerged  contagion. 
The  Empire  seemed  a  great  body  in  dissolution,  exhaling  deadly 
miasma.  For  twelve  years  (250-262)  there  was  constantly  a  pes¬ 
tilence  in  the  provinces.  At  one  time,  in  Rome  and  Achaia,  five 
thousand  persons  died  daily ;  at  Alexandria  there  was  not  a  house 
without  its  dead ;  and  the  army  of  Valerian  was  reduced  by  sick¬ 
ness  before  encountering  the  archers  of  Sapor. 

To  these  scourges  was  added  another.  The  volcanic  belt 
which  extends  in  two  directions, — from  the  Alps  of  Friuli  across 
Italy  and  Sicily  to  Africa,  and  from  the  Adriatic  to  the  Aegean 
Sea  and  the  coasts  of  Syria,  —  resumed  its  activity.  The  earth  was 
shaken,  and  gave  forth  dull  rumbling  sounds ;  the  sky  was  black 
for  many  days ;  chasms  yawned  in  the  ground ;  and  the  sea, 
rushing  in  tremendous  waves  upon  the  shore,  destroyed  many  cities. 

1  xxxi.  5.  The  picture  which  Zosimus  (i.  23)  traces  of  these  devastations  is  even  more 
gloomy. 

2  Zosimus,  i.  29  ;  the  Syncellus,  i.  715  (Bonn  ed.)  ;  Zonaras,  xii.  22. 


220 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


It  seemed  as  if  the  threats  uttered  by  the  Christians  concerning 
the  end  of  the  world  were  about  to  be  fulfilled.  The  Sibylline 
books,  being  consulted,  ordered  a  sacrifice  to  Jupiter  Salutaris.1 

A  document  preserved  by  Eusebius  sums  up  in  brief  and 
terrible  words  this  situation  of  the  Empire.  In  the  capital  of 
Egypt  the  number  of  persons  between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and 
eighty,  inscribed,  during  the  reign  of  Gallienus,  on  the  registers  of 
the  alimentary  institution,  did  not  exceed  the  number  of  the  men 
from  forty  to  seventy  years  old  who  formerly  had  shared  in  these 
distributions.2  Alexandria  therefore  had  at  this  time  lost  more 
than  one  half  of  her  population.  But  if  such  were  the  case  in  a 
city  which  had  never  seen  a  Barbarian,3  what  must  have  been  the 
condition  of  the  provinces  where  they  had  made  so  many  victims  ! 
It  would  not  be  going  too  far  to  say  that  in  the  space  of  twenty 
years  the  portion  of  the  human  race  contained  within  the  limits 
of  the  Empire,  and  formerly  so  prosperous,  had  diminished  by  one 
half.  Such  was  one  of  the  effects  of  governmental  anarchy  and 
of  the  first  entrance  of  the  Germanic  race  into  the  Graeco-Roman 
world. 

We  have  admired  the  Early  Empire  promoting  order,  security, 
and  industry,  —  the  chief  function  of  government  in  all  ages,  and 
its  justification  in  periods  of  absolute  power,  —  and  we  have  repeated  * 
the  words  of  gratitude  that  its  subjects  at  that  time  so  often  uttered. 
It  is  now  our  duty  to  show  these  same  subjects  disaffected  towards 
rulers  who  were  not  able  to  defend  them,  and  who  ruined  them 
by  excessive  taxation.  Rome  is  no  longer  the  sovereign  goddess 
in  whom  all  confide.  Each  province  desires  to  have  its  own 
emperor ;  even  dynasties  of  Gallic  and  Syrian  origin  appear. 
This  is  what  a  half  century  of  revolutions  has  made  of  the  flour¬ 
ishing  empire  of  the  Antonines  and  Severus.  In  states  where  the 
ruler  is  everything,  and  institutions  are  nothing,  decline  may  rap¬ 
idly  succeed  greatness  ;  for  while  there  are  never  providential  men, 


1  Treb.  Pollio,  Gall.  4  and  5. 

2  Hist.  eccl.  vii.  21,  from  a  letter  of  Dionysios,  the  bishop  of  Alexandria.  In  France,  out 
of  every  million  of  inhabitants  there  are  789,559  between  the  ages  of  18  and  80,  and  267,652 
between  the  ages  of  40  and  70.  The  proportion  between  these  two  numbers  is  2.95  to  1. 

8  Egypt  had  suffered  no  invasion,  but  had  been  for  twelve  years  agitated  with  sanguinary 
tumults,  which  the  carelessness  of  the  general  government  had  allowed  to  break  out  in  many 
other  places  (Euseb.,  ibid.,  and  Amm.  Marcellinus,  xxii.  16). 


THE  EMPIRE  IN  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE  THIRD  CENTURY.  221 


there  are  necessary  men.  Let  Trajan,  Hadrian,  or  Severus  be  at 
the  head  of  the  government,  and  a  hundred  million  Romans  live 
in  quiet  and  prosperity ;  let  incapable  men  be  there,  and  .disorder 
is  in  the  armies,  and  the  Barbarians  are  in  the  provinces.  (Civiliza¬ 
tion  advances,  not  by  means  of  the  masses,  but  by  means  of  great 
men ;  VNature  at  that  time  producing  no  such  men,  civilization  fell 
away.  ) 


PILUM. 


CHAPTER  XCVI. 


PROM  THE  ACCESSION  OP  DECIUS  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  GALLIENUS  (249-268). 


PARTIAL  INVASIONS  THROUGHOUT  THE  EMPIRE. 


I.  —  Decius  (249-251  a.d.);  Goths  and  Christians. 


MESSIUS  QUINTUS  TRAJANUS  DECIUS  was  born  of  a 
vV  •  Roman  family,  living  in  the  town  of  Budalia  near  Sirmium : 
in  the  year  201,  according  to  Aurelius  Victor ;  in  191,  according  to 

the  Chronicle  of  Alex¬ 
andria.  He  heads  the 
long  list  of  Illyrian 
Emperors,  many  of 
whom  were  destined 
to  do  the  state  great 
service.  They  were  not 
possessed  of  brilliant 
<l'ualities’ but  they  were 
men  of  accurate  minds 
and  energetic  character,  as  might  be  expected  from  natives  of 
those  poor  and  warlike  provinces. 

Decius  was  of  humble  origin,  and  rose  to  distinction  through 
his  military  career.1  The  old  authors 2  praise  him  very  highly ; 
but  his  reign  does  not  justify  their  eulogiums :  it  was  extremely 
short,  and  the  history  of  it  is  singularly  confused  and  contains 
many  contradictions.  Three  facts,  however,  are  distinct,  and  they 
suffice,  —  a  war  against  the  Goths ;  the  re-establishment  of  the 


TRAJAN  DECIUS 

(bronze  medallion). 


1  Militiae  gradu  ad  imperium  (Aur.  Victor,  Caes.  29). 
i  Especially  Zosimus  (i.  21-23)  and  Aur.  Victor  (29). 


FROM  ACCESSION  OF  DECIUS  TO  DEATH  OF  GALLIENUS.  223 


censorship  (which  indicates  a  return  towards  ancient  customs)  ; 
and,  as  a  result  of  this,  a  persecution  against  the  great  innovation 
of  the  times,  Christianity. 

After  his  victory  near  Verona  (September,  249), 1  Decius  went 
to  Rome  with  his  son,  Quintus  Herennius 
Etruscus,  whom  he  had  named  Caesar ; 2  but 
he  was  almost  immediately  forced  to  leave  the 
city  to  repel  an  invasion  of  the  Goths. 

Confiding  in  the  successes  he  had  obtained 
in  Thrace  over  these  Barbarians,  Gordian  III. 
had  refused  the  annual  subsidy  promised  to 
this  nation.  At  least  Jordanes3  relates  that 
the  Gothic  king  complained  of  this,  and  that 
he  crossed  the  Danube  with  thirty  thousand  of  his  people  to  ravage 

Moesia.  Other  Barbarians  joined  him;  Roman 
soldiers  even  came  to  get  a  share  in  the  plun¬ 
der,  and  the  mountaineers  of  the  Haemus, 
upon  whom  Greek  and  Roman  civilization  had 
had  but  little  effect,  doubtless  furnished  the 
invaders  with  guides  and  auxiliaries.  The 
great  city  of  Marcianopolis  only  escaped  by 
the  payment  of  a  ransom.5 

When  the  Goths  returned  with  rich  spoils,  the  Gepidae  at¬ 
tempted  to  plunder  the  plunderers ;  a  hot  engagement  followed, 
in  which  the  former  were  victorious.  These  events  took  place 

1  We  have  a  rescript  of  his,  dated  October  16,  249,  in  the  Code,  x.  16,  3,  and,  according 
to  Eckhel,  Philip  was  still  living  on  the  29th  of  August  of  that  year. 

2  Eckhel,  vii.  342.  Aurelius  Victor  (29)  says  that  the  Caesar  was  immediately  sent  in 
Illyrios.  Decius  had  a  second  son,  C.  Valens  Hostilianus  Messius  Quintus,  who  was  also  made 
Caesar  and  Prince  of  the  Youth. 

3  Tn  respect  to  the  pensions  paid  the  Goths  since  the  time  of  Alexander  Severus,  see 
Tillemont,  iii.  216.  Jordanes,  in  his  History  of  the  Goths,  gives  an  abstract  of  a  great  work, 
now  lost,  by  Cassiodorus,  the  favorite  minister  of  Theodoric.  In  respect  to  the  Gothic  war, 
see  Wietersheim,  op.  cit.  vol.  ii.,  where  he  discusses  the  contradictory  narratives  of  Jordanes, 
Zoismus,  Zonaras,  and  Aur.  Victor.  These  details,  however,  lose  all  their  interest  in  presence 
of  the  too  certain  fact  of  the  defeat  of  the  Roman  army  and  the  death  of  Decius. 

4  The  god  standing  at  the  left,  holding  a  cornucopia  and  a  patera.  —  The  Greek  colonies 
of  the  coast  of  Thrace,  far  from  changing  the  condition  of  the  country,  had  felt  the  influence 
of  their  Barbarian  neighbors,  who  had  modified  the  manners,  the  forms  of  worship,  and  even 
the  language  of  these  Greeks.  An  inscription  of  the  year  238  shows  at  Odessus  the  Thracian 
god  Derziparos ;  and  upon  early  coins  of  that  city  the  great  god  of  the  Odessians  was  Kurza 
{Revue  arche'ol.,  March,  1878,  p.  114  ;  cf.  Dumont,  Inscr.  de  Thrace'). 

5  Post  longcim  obsidionem,  accepto  praemio  ditatus  Geta  recessit  (Jordanes,  17). 


COIN  OP  ODESSUS.4 


QUINTUS  HERENNIUS 
ETRUSCUS. 


224 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


during  the  reign  of  Philip.  The  invasion  had  been  so  disastrous 
for  Moesia  that  the  monetary  series  of  the  Pontic  cities  stops  with 
this  Emperor;  there  was  no  more  gold  left  to  coin. 

In  the  reign  of  Decius,  Kniva,  another  Gothic  king,  made  a 
still  more  formidable  invasion;  he  divided  his  forces  into  two 
bodies,  sent  one  to  ravage  the  part  of  Moesia  which  the  Roman 
troops  had  abandoned  in  order  to  concentrate  themselves  in  the 
strongholds,  and  with  the  other,  which  amounted  to  seventy 
thousand  men,  he  attacked  Ad  Novas,  an  important  city  on  the 
Danube.  Repulsed  by  the  future  Emperor  Gallus,  at  that  time 
dux  in  Moesia,  he  attempted  to  surprise  Nicopolis,  which  Trajan 

had  built  in  memorv 

t j 

of  his  Dacian  victo¬ 
ries.  But  here  the 
Gothic  leader  encoun¬ 
tered  an  army  which 
Decius  had  collected 
at  that  point.  Un¬ 
able  to  force  the  lines, 
the  Barbarian,  with 
the  audacity  of  an 

Indian  marauder,  left  the  Emperor  in  his  camp,  and  going 
over  the  Haemus,  of  which  the  passes  were  entirely  unguarded, 
came  down  upon  the  great  city  of  Philippopolis,  without  keep¬ 
ing  open  a  line  of  retreat.  Decius  followed  him  by  mountain 
paths,  where  the  Roman  army,  both  men  and  horses,  suffered  se¬ 
verely.  The  Emperor  had  reached  Beroea,  sixty  miles  eastward 
from  Philippopolis,  and  believed  himself  to  be  still  far  distant 
from  the  Goths,  when  the  Barbarian  leader  fell  upon  him  un¬ 
awares,  and  made  great  slaughter  among  the  imperial  troops. 
Decius  had  only  time  to  escape  across  the  Haemus.  While  the 
Emperor  was  reforming  an  army  from  the  garrisons  of  fortresses, 
the  Goth  seized  upon  Philippopolis  by  the  connivance  of  Priscus, 
the  governor  of  Macedon,  who  seems  to  have  assumed  the  purple.1 
The  Barbarian  king  then  returned  into  Moesia,  to  deposit  in  a 
safe  place  across  the  Danube  the  fruits  of  this  fortunate  campaign. 


QUINARIUS  OF  BRONZE  OF  TRAJAN  DECIUS,  EQUAL  IN 
VALUE  TO  TWO  SESTERCES. 


1  Aur.  Victor  (29)  represents  the  Goths  as  entering  Macedonia,  where,  according  to  this 
author,  they  instigated  the  usurpation  of  Priscus. 


FROM  ACCESSION  OF  DECIUS  TO  DEATH  OF  GALLIENUS.  225 


On  his  way  he  encountered  the  Emperor,  who  hoped  to  avenge 
the  Empire  by  recapturing  from  the  Goths  their  booty  and  their 
captives,  among  whom  were  several  persons  of  rank.  The  treason 
of  Gallus  caused  Decius  to  lose  a  second  battle,  in  which  he  per¬ 
ished  with  his  son,  and  even  his  dead  body  was  not  recovered 
(November,  251)d//X 

This  was  the  first  Emperor  who  fell  under  the  enemy’s  sword 
within  Roman  territory.  Accordingly,  this  disaster  carried  terror 
through  the  piovinces,  and  joy  and  hope  into  the  barbaric  world  ; 
it  was  the  terrible  prologue  to  the  great  drama  which  was  not  to 
end  until  the  day  when  the  German  race,  after  covering  with 
blood  and  ruins  all  Roman  Europe  and  a  part  of  the  East,  installed 
a  Barbarian  in  the  palace  of  Augustus  and  Trajan. 

Two  great  faults  and  one  mistake  had  been  committed  by 
Decius  during  his  very  short  reign.  Notwithstanding  his  experi¬ 
ence,  he  neither  knew  how  to  prepare  for  a  Gothic  war,  nor  to 
carry  it  on  sagaciously ;  and  the  result  was  the  devastation  of  two 
provinces  and  his  own  death.  As  he  would  have  had  the  credit 
of  a  victory,  so  he  must  bear  the  blame  of  a  defeat.  His  second 
fault  was  the  persecution  of  the  Christians.  The  mistake  which 
he  made  exhibits  a  political  simplicity  astonishing  in  a  man  of 
his  time ;  he  re-established  the  censorship,  fallen  into  disuse  since 
the  days  of  Claudius  and  Domitian,  and  the  Senate  invested  Valerian 
with  the  office.  “Undertake  the  censorship  of  the  world,”  the 
Emperor  said  to  him ;  “  determine  who  shall  remain  in  the  Senate, 
and  restore  to  the  equestrian  order  its  renown ;  take  charge  of  the 
census  and  the  levying  of  taxes ;  make  the  laws,  and  appoint  to 
the  high  military  offices.  Your  supervision  will  extend  as  far  as 
the  imperial  palace  and  over  all  magistrates,  with  the  exception 
of  the  urban  prefect,  the  consuls,  the  rex  sacrorum,  and  the  chief 
vestal.” 

If  Trebellius  Pollio2  really  read  these  words  in  the  public  acts 
of  the  reign,  it  was  a  temporary  colleague  that  Decius  gave  him¬ 
self,  —  a  sort  of  interrex,  whom  he  left  behind  him  in  the  capital 
at  a  moment  when  he  and  his  son  were  about  to  depart  for  a 

1  Before  this  invasion  it  would  appear  that  Decius  gained  some  victories  in  Dacia,  for 
an  inscription  calls  him  restitutor  Daciarum  (Orelli,  991),  and  others  against  the  Germans, 
victoria  Germanica  (Eckhel,  vii.  344,  345)  ;  but  there  is  no  trace  of  this  in  the  histories. 

2  Valerianus,  1. 


VOL.  VII. 


15 


226 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


dangerous  war.1  We  may  even  discern  in  this  measure  a  new 
manifestation  of  the  idea  that  it  was  wise  to  divide  the  imperial 
power  among  several  persons,  —  to  have,  as  in  the  time  of  Pupienus 
and  Balbinus,  one  emperor  in  the  city,  and  another  in  the  army. 

The  censorship  had  wisely  been  suffered  to  fall  into  disuse ;  for 
it  was  an  institution  which,  though  useful  in  a  little  city,  must 
necessarily  be  impracticable  in  a  great  state.  But  while  it  was 
impossible  to  restore  the  past,  it  appeared  practicable  to  proscribe 
certain  things  in  the  present ;  and  Valerian,  who  by  no  means 
brought  back  the  manners  of  early  Rome,  made  in  the  name  of 
Decius,  and  later  in  his  own  name,  a  bitter  war  against  the  new 
creeds. 

The  Christian  ideal  was  a  higher  one  than  that  of  Marcus 
Aurelius,  but  it  was  less  disinterested.  The  sage  who  chanced  to 
be  an  emperor,  asked  for  nothing  in  return  for  his  obedience  to 
duty ;  and  hence  but  few  have  followed  him.  The  Christian,  on 
the  contrary,  made  his  bargain  with  God,  as  the  pagan  world  had 
bargained  with  Jupiter.  In  return  for  their  piety,  the  latter 
desired  earthly  good ;  in  return  for  his,  the  former  felt  himself 
secure  of  eternal  blessedness.  His  religion,  therefore,  possessed  a 
powerful  attraction  for  those  spirits  who  were  not  resigned  to  sub¬ 
mit  to  the  universal  law  of  creation,  —  after  life,  death  ;  and  the 
secret  of  the  tomb  left  to  God.  To  the  divine  hopes  which  she 
held  out,  the  Church  added  words  and  deeds  of  gentleness.  In  the- 
midst  of  an  aristocratic  community,  extremely  harsh  towards  the 
lowly,  she  taught  the  equality  of  all  men,  great  and  small,  Roman 
and  Barbarian,  in  the  presence  of  the  divine  law,  and  promised  to 
“  the  servants  of  God,”  whether  slaves  or  senators,  the  same 
rewards.  Her  spirit  of  universal  love,  her  care  for  the  sick  and 
poor,  the  new  virtues  that  she  required  in  the  place  of  those  that 
the  Romans  had  lost  in  losing  the  dignity  of  citizenship,'2  had 
gained  her  many  hearts. 

But  while  the  number  of  believers  was  increasing,  the  virtue 
of  the  early  days  seemed  to  grow  less.  If  we  may  accept  the 
words  of  Saint  Cyprian,  we  must  believe  that  the  peace  which  the 
Church  had  now  enjoyed  for  forty  years,  had  been  fatal  to  discipline 

1  Zonaras  (xii.  22)  even  makes  Valerian  the  colleague  of  Decius. 

2  Vol.  I.  p.  148,  and  Vol.  V.  pp.  413  et  seq. 


FROM  ACCESSION  OF  DECIUS  TO  DEATH  OF  GALLIENUS.  227 


and  morals ;  that  piety  was  dead  in  the  priests,  integrity  in  those 
who  had  charge  of  the  finances  of  the  Church,  charity  in  the 
believers;  and  that  all  the  vices  of  the  pagan  world  had  invaded 
the  members  of  Jesus  Christ.  Instead  of  assisting  the  poor,  they 
fraudulently  possessed  themselves  of  lands  and  heritages,  and 
increased  their  revenues  by  usury.1  “  We  devour  one  another,” 


SAINT  CYPRIAN  AND  SAINT  LAWRENCE.2 


says  a  second  contemporary  ;  "  and  our  sins  have  raised  a  wall 
between  God  and  us.  Haman  insults  us ;  Esther,  with  all  the 
righteous,  is  in  confusion,  for  all  the  virgins  have  suffered  their 
lamps  to  go  out :  they  are  asleep,  and  the  door  is  shut.  When 
the  Son  of  Man  cometh,  shall  he  find  faith  on  the  earth  ?  The 
Word  has  his  fan  in  his  hand,  that  he  may  cleanse  his  floor.”3 
Like  all  pulpit  orators,  Saint  Cyprian  exaggerates.  His  picture 
of  the  “  fall  ”  is  too  dark,  as  his  apologies  are  too  brilliant  in 

1  De  Lapsis,  passim. 

2  On  a  gilded  glass  of  the  catacombs  (Roller,  op.  cit.  pi.  lxxviii.  No.  7). 

8  Saint  Pionius,  priest  in  Smyrna,  and  martyr  in  250.  (^p.  Bollandists,  February  1,  p.  45). 
Reference  to  the  parable  of  the  wise  and  the  foolish  virgins :  an  otnnino  dormitaverunt  omnes 
virgines  et  dormierunt  .  .  .  (Id.  ibid.). 


228 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


color.  Saint  Cyprian  wrote  in  the  midst  of  a  persecution ;  since 
God  had  permitted  it,  its  justice  must  be  proved,  and  the  irregu¬ 
larities  of  the  Christians  became  necessary  to  explain  the  divine 
chastisement.  Events  really  had  a  more  natural  cause.  Since 
the  time  of  the  short  persecution  under  Severus,1  heroism  had  not 
been  called  out ;  enthusiasm  had  diminished,  and  consequently 
men’s  lives  become  less  rigorous.  But  the  hatred  between  Christians 
and  pagans  remained  unabated,  and  the  latter,  seeing  so  many 
woes  fall  upon  the  Empire,  —  invasions  of  Barbarians,  a  destructive 
pestilence,  and  endless  revolutions,  —  believed  the  gods  offended  by 
the  impunity  allowed  to  those  who  blasphemed  them.  The  gov¬ 
ernment  also  became  uneasy  at  the  presence  of  this  enemy,  which, 
under  penalty  of  its  own  destruction,  the  pagan  state  must 
either  assimilate  or  destrov.  Decius  —  a  harsh  and  narrow-minded 
ruler,  who  in  his  love  of  the  past  believed  himself  able  to  re¬ 
suscitate  the  dead,  restore  to  the  Senate  its  power  and  to  Jupiter 
his  thunderbolts  —  undertook  to  avenge  his  gods.  He  promulgated 
an  edict,  which  was  posted  in  all  the  cities,  ordering  search  to 
be  made  for  Christians,  and  punishment  to  be  inflicted  upon 
them.  A  war  of  extermination  began.  It  appeared  at  first  to 
succeed,  because  even  more  skill  than  cruelty  was  employed  in 
it.  All  the  efforts  of  the  proconsuls  were  directed  towards 
obtaining  acts  of  apostasy.  “Tortures,”  says  Saint  Cyprian,  “were 
continuous ;  they  were  not  planned  to  give  the  crown,  but  to 
exhaust  the  power  of  endurance.” 2  Accordingly,  apostasies  were 
numerous.  “To  save  his  life,  the  son  gave  up  the  father,  the 
father  denounced  the  son.”  “At  Carthage  the  greater  number 
of  the  brethren  deserted  at  the  first  threats  of  the  enemy.  They 
did  not  wait  to  be  questioned,  but  to  preserve  the  wealth  which 
held  their  souls  captive,  they  hastened  voluntarily  to  sacrifice  to 
idols ;  they  implored  the  magistrates  to  receive  them  on  the 
instant  to  burn  the  impure  incense,  and  not  to  put  off  until  the 
morrow  that  which  was  to  make  their  eternal  ruin  sure.”  At 
Alexandria  the  same  scenes  took  place,  and  at  Smyrna,  Rome, 
and  throughout  the  Empire.  Even  bishops  were  seen  leading 

1  Origen  ( Contra  Celsum,  iii.)  says  that  until  the  time  of  the  great  persecution  under 
Decius,  there  was  but  “  a  very  small  number,  easy  to  count,”  of  Christians  put  to  death. 

2  Saint  Cyprian,  Ep.  8,  52,  63,  and  his  De  Lapsis ;  Euseb.,  Hist.  eccl.  vi.  39,  41 ;  Gregory 
of  Nyssa,  in  his  Life  of  Gregory  Thaumaturgus ;  Tillemont,  iii.  326-345. 


THE  EMPEROR  DECIUS  (STATUE  OF  THE  CAPITOL) 


(he  Library 
•f  the 

iMtaretty  of  HUM* 


FROM  ACCESSION  OF  DECIUS  TO  DEATH  OF  GALLIENUS.  229 


their  entire  congregations  into  apostasy.  Trophimus  of  Arles  him¬ 
self  accompanied  the  Christians  to  pagan  altars.  Others,  with 
money,  bought  toleration :  the  libellatici  were  very  numerous. 
These  weaknesses  are  in  human  nature,  and  we  have  no  cause  to 
wonder  that  Christianity,  as  it  extended,  lost  something  of  its 
early  virtue. 

However,  the  persecution  of  Decius  seems  not  to  have  been  as 
severe  as  it  has  been  represented.1  A  sentence  of  death  was  not 
always  inevitable.  Some  were  despoiled  of  their  goods ;  others 
condemned  to  exile,  or  thrown  into  prison.  Babylas  of  Antioch 
and  Alexander  of  Jerusalem,  of  very  advanced  age,  could  not  sup¬ 
port  the  rigors  of  imprisonment,  and  died  in  consequence.  The 
most  formidable,  because  at  that  time  the  most  famous,  of  the 
Christians,  Origen,  was  loaded  with  chains  and  threatened  with 
the  stake;  but  “the  man  of  steel”  betrayed  no  weakness.  The 
torturers  were  wearied  sooner  than  their  victim ;  he  was  set  at 
liberty,  and  lived  four  years  longer.2 

As  the  persecution  had  been  publicly  announced,  many  had 
time  to  escape.  The  most  conspicuous  leaders,  Cyprian  of  Carthage, 
Dionysius  of  Alexandria,  and  Gregory  Thaumaturgus,  avoided  the 
peril,  quitting  their  episcopal  cities,  and  taking  refuge  in  some 
adjacent  retreat,  whence  they  could  communicate  with  the  faithful. 
It  must  have  been  easy  for  many  others  to  place  themselves  in 
shelter.  Of  these  fugitives  some  went  among  the  Barbarians, 
others  fled  into  the  desert ;  and  thus,  amid  persecutions,  originated 
that  monastic  order  which  was  itself  to  be  the  instrument  of  many 
future  persecutions. 

The  martyrologies  enumerate  in  this  period  a  considerable 
number  of  martyrs ;  but  serious  authors  dare  not  guarantee  the 
authenticity  of  these  Acts,  filled  with  anachronisms  and  marvellous 
legends,  like  that  of  the  Seven  Sleepers  of  Ephesus,  who,  being 

1  Except  in  Egypt,  where  there  was  doubtless  a  governor  particularly  bitter  against  the 
•Christians.  In  Alexandria,  a  popular  riot  had  cost  the  lives  of  several  of  them  before  the 
arrival  of  the  edict  of  Decius  (Euseb.,  Hist.  eccl.  vi.  41).  After  the  publication  of  the  edict 
there  were  many  apostasies  and  a  certain  number  of  martyrs.  However,  Dionysius,  bishop  of 
Alexandria  at  this  time,  mentions  as  martyred  after  the  edict  but  nine  men  and  four  women 
( Ibid.).  There  must  have  been  more. 

2  Origen,  who  was  called  ’AS n/xamos  (Euseb.,  Hist.  eccl.  vi.  14),  was  at  that  time  sixty-five 
years  of  age.  He  had  recently  written  (between  245  and  249)  his  great  work  against  Celsus, 
the  Aoyos  d\i)6r]s.  Saint  Cyprian  says  of  the  African  confessors  :  Nec  cessistis  suppliciis,  sed 
vobis  potius  supplicia  cesserunt  ( Ep .  10).' 


230 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  2G8  a.  d. 


shut  up  in  a  cave  and  walled  in,  emerged,  living,  two  centuries 
after.  We  should  not,  however,  fall  into  the  opposite  extreme, 
concluding  from  these  pious  frauds  that  there  were  very  few  con¬ 
demnations  to  death.  The  edict  of  Decius  reveals  an  intention  on 
the  part  of  the  imperial  government  to  strike  a  heavy  blow ; 1  a 
few  leaders  of  the  Church,  bishops  or  teachers,  and,  as  was  always 
the  case,  many  of  the  common  people  and  slaves,  perished.  The 
most  illustrious  victims  were  Saint  Saturninus,  first  bishop  of  Toll¬ 
house,  Pionius,  priest  in  Smyrna,  who  by  his  sacrifice  made  up 
for  the  apostasy  of  his  bishop,2  and  Fabian,  bishop  of  Rome,  whose 
see  remained  vacant  a  year  and  a  half.  Pionius  was  crucified,  and 
with  him  a  Marcionite,  —  the  heretics  having  their  martyrs  also. 
If  the  latter  had  told  us  their  story,  they  would  have  added  glori¬ 
ous  chapters  to  the  great  and  terrible  epic  of  persecution,  which 
across  the  centuries  has  kept  burning  in  men’s  minds  the  flanrn 
of  self-devotion,  and  even  to  this  day  incites  to  noble  sacrifices. 

The  storm  let  loose  upon  the  Church  by  him  whom  Lactantius 
calls  “  the  accursed  beast,”  lasted  in  reality  but  a  few  months. 
At  the  end  of  the  year  250  peace  had  been  almost  entirely 
restored  to  the  Christians,  and  before  the  death  of  Decius  all  the 
imprisoned  confessors  were  set  free.3  The  Emperor  had  quite 
other  work  to  do  than  torturing  these  inoffensive  men  on  account 
of  their  belief.  The  invading  Goths  compelled  him  to  occupy 
himself  less  with  his  gods  than  with  the  Empire,  and  he  left  his 
undertaking  incomplete.  The  persecution  had  been  no  more  suc¬ 
cessful  than  the  censorship  of  morals ;  but  the  latter  had  been 
only  a  harmless  whim,  while  the  former  had  caused  tears  and 
blood  to  be  shed,  and  their  trace  still  rests  upon  the  persecutor’s 
name. 

1  Saint  Cyprian  (Ep.  52)  speaks  of  the  hatred  of  Decius  towards  the  bishops.  See,  in  the 
Life  of  Gregory  Thaumaturgus,  the  severity  of  the  orders  sent  to  the  governors  to  bring  back 
the  Christians,  ry  tu>v  8aifxova>u  Xarpeig  .  .  .  (f)6/3(p  re  Kcii  777  ra>v  ahacrpaTu>v  avciyKrj. 

2  A  fugitive  slave  perished  with  him. 

3  If  the  Acts  of  Saint  Acacius  are  authentic  (Bollandists,  March  10),  Decius  himself 
ordered  the  release  of  that  bishop. 


FROM  ACCESSION  OF  DECIUS  TO  DEATH  OF  GALLIENUS.  231 


II.  —  Ravages  of  the  Barbarians  in  the  Empire  ;  Valerian  ; 
Persecution  of  the  Christians  (251-260). 

In  the  critical  position  where  the  army  stood  after  the  defeat 
and  death  of  Decius,  it  had  neither  time  nor  disposition  to  await 


C.  VIBIUS  TREBONIANUS  GALLUS.1 


a  decision  of  the  Senate.  Gallus  easily  obtained  the  purple  from 
his  legions.2  In  order  to  free  himself  from  the  suspicion  of  having 

1  Bust  of  the  Capitol,  Hall  of  the  Emperors,  No.  73. 

2  C.  Vibius  Trebonianus  Gallus,  born  in  206  according  to  Aur.  Victor,  and  in  194  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  Alexandrian  Chronicle.  He  was  perhaps  an  African,  a  native  of  the  Island  of 
Meninx. 


232 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


betrayed  his  Emperor,  he  took  for  colleague  Hostilianus,  the  second 
son  of  Decius,  and  he  caused  his  own  son  Volusianus,  whom  he 
made  Caesar,1  to  marry  a  daughter  of  the  late  Emperor.  Not  long 
after,  however,  Hostilianus  died,  or  was  killed.  A  disgraceful 


VOLUSIANUS,  SON  OF  TREBONIANUS  GALLUS.2 


treaty  had  permitted  the  Goths  to  recross  the  Danube  unmolested, 
taking  with  them  their  booty  and  their  captives,  and  the  promise 
of  an  annual  subsidy  in  gold.  But  they  had  found  the  Empire  so 
rich,  and  at  the  same  time  so  feeble,  that  it  was  to  be  expected 
that  they  would  soon  return.  There  was,  in  fact,  talk  of  new 

1  Eckhel,  vii.  365.  After  the  death  of  Hostilianus,  his  brother-in-law  was  made  Augustus 
(ibid.  566),  and  reigned  from  November,  251,  to  February,  254. 

2  Bust  of  the  Capitol,  Hall  of  the  Emperors. 


FKOM  ACCESSION  OF  DECIUS  TO  DEATH  OF  GALLIENUS.  233 


encounters  in  Pannonia,  which  the  governor,  Aemilianus,  a  Maure¬ 
tanian,  was  able  to  turn  to  his  own  advantage.  These  slight 
successes  encouraged  his  troops,  whose  military  pride  had  been 
wounded  by  the  treaty  of  Gallus  with  the  Goths.  The  distribution 
among  the  soldiers  of  the  money  sent  to  pay  the  Gothic  tribute 
won  them  completely,  and  the  troops  proclaimed  their  general.1 
Pestilence  and  famine  desolated  the  provinces,  without  interrupting 
the  effeminate  life  Gallus  was  leading  at  Rome,  and  the  people 


HOSTILIANUS,  VOLUSIANUS,  TREBONIANUS  GALLUS.4 

SECOND  SON  OF  DECIUS.2  SON  OF  GALLUS.3 


held  him  responsible  for  these  disasters.  Aemilianus  penetrated 
unopposed  into  Italy,5  as  far  as  the  city  of  Terni,  where  he  met 
his  opponent.  A  promise  of  money  to  the  tfoops  of  Gallus  decided 
the  defection.  The  Emperor  was  killed  with  his  son  (February, 
254),  and  the  victor  had  a  few  days  of  royalty. 

This  vain  person6  promised  the  Senate  to  renew  the  glory  of 
the  great  reigns,  to  leave  to  the  Conscript  Fathers  the  administra¬ 
tion  of  the  state,  while  he  himself,  undertaking  the  hardships  of 
war,  would  go  and  drive  out  the  Barbarians  from  the  northern  and 
eastern  portions  of  the  Empire ;  and  he  allowed  himself  at  once  to 
be  represented  on  medals  with  the  attributes  of  Hercules  the  Vic¬ 
torious,  and  Mars  the  Avenger. 

Even  before  the  death  of  Gallus,  Valerian,  whom  this  Emperor 
had  employed  to  bring  to  his  succor  the  legions  of  Gaul  and 

1  About  the  close  of  August,  253  (Eckhel,  vii.  371). 

2  C[aius]  VALENS  HOTIL[ianus]  (sic)  MES[ius]  QVINTVS  N[obilis]  C[aesar]. 
(Large  bronze.) 

3  Volusianus,  son  of  Gallus,  wearing  a  radiate  crown  (aureus).  IMP[erator]  CAE[sar] 
C[aius]  VIB[ius]  VOLVSIANO[s]  (sic)  AVG[ustus].  (Gold  coin). 

4  Trebonianus  Gallus,  laurel  crowned.  (Bronze  medallion.) 

5  About  the  end  of  253.  In  this  case  of  difficult  chronology  we  follow  Eckhel,  who  has 
learnedly  discussed  the  grounds  for  it. 

6  M.  Aemilius  Aemilianus  (Or.-IIenzen,  No.  5,542). 


234 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


Germany,  had  been  by  them  (253)  decorated  with  the  purple  in 
Rhaetia.  Rome  bad,  therefore,  three  Emperors  at  once.  The 
disaster  of  Terni  removed  one  of  these.  Valerian  had  no  need  to 
fight  against  the  other.  The  soldiers  of  his  opponent,  feeling  them¬ 
selves  the  weaker  party,  and  possibly  offended  at  the  advances 
made  by  their  Emperor  to  the  Senate,  sent  to  the 
new  Augustus  the  head  of  Aemilianus.  The  unfor¬ 
tunate  man  had  been  murdered  near  Spoletum,  after 
a  reign  of  not  quite  three  months.1 

AVe  find  in  this  year  a  prefect  of  Rome  who 
had  the  title  of  comes  domesticorum, —  a  new  designa¬ 
tion,  and  destined  to  be  very  conspicuous.  Already  we  have  seen 
duces  and  praesidentes ;  at  the  great  council  of  war  held  in  Byzan¬ 
tium  in  258  the  Emperor  will  be  surrounded  by  them.  Also  the 
amicus  principis  (the  Emperor’s  counsellor)  becomes  a  functionary, — 
one,  Clarus,  was  made  prefect  of  Illyria  and  the  Gallic  provinces ; 

and  during  the  reign  now  beginning,  there 
were,  so  to  speak,  two  empires,  —  that  of  the 
East,  where  Valerian  was  waging  war,  and 
that  of  the  West,  over  which  his  son  Gallie- 
nus  ruled  as  Augustus.  The  elements  of  the 
approaching  reform  were  in  preparation. 

We  are  about  to  enter  upon  the  period 
known  in  history  as  that  of  the  Thirty 
Tyrants ;  that  is  to  say,  a  time  of  the  most 
horrible  confusion.  We  shall  pass  quickly  over  it,  as  in  some 
dangerous  or  malarial  locality  the  traveller  hastens  his  steps. 

The  disorder  existing  in  the  state  appears  in  the  narratives 
which  describe  it.  Even  the  chronology  is  uncertain,  for  the 
reason  that  the  Emperors  succeed  one  another  too  quickly  for  each 
to  have  time  to  issue  the  coins  which  fix  our  dates.  The  one 
thing  plainly  visible  is  that  the  whole  Barbarian  world  fell  upon 
the  Empire  :  the  Franks  overran  Gaul ;  the  Alemanni  crossed  the 
Rhine ;  the  Goths  or  the  Scythians  the  Danube  and  the  Euxine  ; 
the  Persians  the  Tigris  and  the  Euphrates. 

Valerian  was  an  upright  man,  who  had  with  good  reason  been 

1  Eutropius  says  that  he  was  killed  tertio  mense. 

2  Aemilianus  as  Mars.  MARTI  PROPVG[na]T[ori]. 

8  Laurelled  head  of  Valerian.  IMP.  C.  P.  LIC.  VALERIANVS  AVG. 


FROM  ACCESSION  OF  DECIUS  TO  DEATH  OF  GALLIENUS.  235 


made  the  censor  of  others,  because  he  had  always  been  his  own 
censor,  —  a  man  very  well  worthy  of  the  second  rank,  but  not  of 
the  first.1  He  endeavored  to  relieve 
the  public  distress ;  he  listened  wil¬ 
lingly  to  advice,  and  advanced  men 
of  worth.  Claudius,  Aureolus,  Pos- 
tumus,  Ingenuus,  Aurelian,  were  all 
distinguished  by  him,  and  Probus 

.  .  QUATERNIO  OF  COPPER  ALLOY.2 

owed  to  this  Emperor  his  first 

honors.3  But  the  conduct  of  affairs  required  at  a  period  of  such 
extreme  disorder  something  more  than  good  intentions ;  there  was 
needed  good  judgment,  mental  activity,  clear  and  active  mind, 
firmness,  and  perseverance, — none  of  which  qualities  Valerian  pos¬ 
sessed.  Moreover,  he  came  to  power  too  late ;  old 
age  is  the  time  for  repose,  and  not  for  duties  which 
require  energy  both  of  mind  and  body.4 

To  oppose  Gallus,  Aemilianus  had  brought  into 
Italy  the  best  troops  from  Pannonia,  while  to  assist 
him  Valerian  had  led  thither  the  flower  of  the 

SILVER  MEDALLION.5  .  .  . 

Rhenish  legions.  The  Barbarians,  who  had  not  failed 
to  observe  this  weakening  of  the  garrisons  of  the  frontier,  attempted 
a  new  assault.  Valerian  had  the  wisdom  to  see  that  alone  he 
could  not  possibly  repel  so  many  attacks.  Instead,  however,  of 
taking  as  his  colleague  one  of  the  many  valiant  and  experienced 
generals  at  this  time  in  the  Roman  army,  he  chose  his  son  Gallienus, 
who  was  too  young  to  possess  authority  and  too  effeminate  to 
employ  it  well  if  he  had  had  it.6  Father  and  son  divided  the 
■defence.  Valerian  undertook  the  East,  Gallienus  the  West  (255); 
we  shall  see  that  both  were  incapable  at  their  imperial  trade. 

Gallienus  was  still  entirely  devoted  to  pleasure,  and  passed 

1  P.  Licinius  Valerianus  was  of  an  old  family,  and  at  this  time  sixty-three  years  of 
■age.  He  had  held  office  as  tribune  for  the  first  time  while  Gallus  was  yet  living,  in  the 
year  253. 

2  Valerian  and  his  son  Gallienus,  each  wearing  a  radiate  crown. 

3  Treb.  Pollio,  Tyr.  trig.  20;  Vopiscus,  Aur.  8,  9,  11-15;  Prob.  3-5. 

4  Zosimus  is  very  severe  upon  Valerian  (i.  36). 

6  Reverse  of  a  silver  medallion,  with  the  legend  :  VIRTVS  GALLIE[ni].  Gallienus  on 
horseback,  treading  down  an  enemy. 

6  All  the  coins  of  Publius  Licinius  Egnatius  Gallienus  give  him  the  title  of  Augustus,  not 
■one  that  of  Caesar. 


236 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


his  time  in  amusements  of  all  kinds.1  His  father  had  but  little 
confidence  in  this  boy,2  and  yet  dared  not  give  him  as  counsellor 
and  guide  Aurelian,  whose  severity  seemed  too  great  for  the  time, 
and  especially  too  great  to  be  endured  by  Gallienus.  Valerian 
therefore  placed  the  young  man  in  charge  of  Postumus,  a  skilful 

soldier,  —  appointing  the 
latter  dux  of  the  Rhenish 
frontier  and  governor  of 
Gaul.  Although  the  Ro¬ 
mans  still  possessed  their 
strongholds  along  the  Rhine, 
the  Frankish  marauders 
always  found  along  the 
extensive  frontier  some  ill- 
guarded  point  through 
which  their  bands  could 
slip  into  the  province. 
When  they  had  once  crossed  the  line  of  the  castra3  there  were 
before  them  only  disarmed  populations  filled  with  terror  at  the 
sight  of  these  yellow-haired  warriors  whose  weapons  never  missed 
their  mark ;  and  the  invaders  went  on  across  rivers  and  over 
mountains,  for  the  pleasure  of  seeing,  of  slaying,  and  of  setting 
villas  and  cities  on  fire.  The  Pyrenees  did  not  arrest  them,  nor 
the  Straits  of  Hercules ;  and  the  affrighted  Moors  beheld  these 
sons  of  another  world,  whose  destructive  instincts  the  Vandals 
would  later  reveal  to  them.  Among  the  Spanish  towns  pillaged 
or  destroyed  by  the  Franks,  Eusebius  names  the  great  city  of 
Tarragona,4  in  which  a  century  and  a  half  did  not  suffice  to  efface 
the  traces  of  this  devastation.  Ilerda,  in  the  time  of  Ausonius,  was 
only  a  heap  of  ruins  ;5  and  in  the  fifth  century  Orosius  speaks  of 


1  Never  had  entertainments  been  more  numerous  than  in  the  reign  of  Valerian  and  Galli¬ 
enus  (Eckhel,  iv.  422). 

2  Puer.  The  word  is  in  a  letter  quoted  by  Vopiscus  ( Aur .  9),  of  which  the  authenticity 
has  been  called  in  question,  though  upon  insufficient  grounds.  It  is  true  that  Aurelius  Victor 
makes  Gallienus  thirty-five  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  his  accession  to  the  Empire. 

3  They  seem  to  have  come  into  Gaul  by  the  valley  of  the  Moselle,  where  have  been  found 
many  coins  of  this  period,  which  doubtless  were  buried  at  their  approach. 

4  Eusebius  places  the  taking  of  Tarragona  by  the  Franks  in  the  year  263.  According  to 
Orosius  (vii.  22)  they  remained  a  dozen  years  in  Spain  (256-268). 

5  At  the  end  of  the  fourth  century  {Ep.  xxv.  5,  3). 


FROM  ACCESSION  OF  DECIUS  TO  DEATH  OF  GALLIENUS.  237 


many  Spanish  cities  laid  waste.  If,  as  we  have  already  said  in 
relating  the  reign  of  Augustus,  the  Empire  had  been  able  to  give 
the  provincial  assemblies  a  permanent  existence,  and  the  municipal 
militia  of  the  first  century 1  had  endured  until  the  third,  Spain  could 
easily  have  repelled  this  handful  of  invaders.  It  was  the  isolation 
of  the  cities  which  prevented  them  from  organizing  for  the  common 
defence. 

Gallienus  cared  little  for  these  disasters ;  the  sun  of  Spain  and  of 
Africa,  and  civilization,  whose  contact  is  deadly  to 
Barbarians  when  they  are  not  strong  enough  to 
destroy  it,  were  sure,  he  thought,  soon  to  get  the 
better  of  these  bold  marauders.  He  contented  him¬ 
self  with  detaining  the  bulk  of  the  nation  on  the  Rhine 


by  many  small  encounters  and  finally  by  the  means  so  coin  of  copper 
often  employed,  —  that  of  buying  over  a  Barbarian 
chief  to  guard  the  frontiers  for  him  ;  after  which  he  assumed  the 
name  of  Germanicus  and  caused  himself  to  be  represented  on  coins 
as  the  conqueror  of  two  rivers,  the  Mein  and  the  Rhine,  of  which 
the  one  protected  Gaul  against  the  Germans,  and  the  other  opened 
Germany  to  a  Roman  invasion.3  Aurelian  distinguished  himself 
in  these  severe  campaigns.  He  destroyed  a  Frankish  corps  near 
Mayence,  and  three  lines  of  a  song  of  his  soldiers  have  been 
preserved,  — 


Mille,  inille,  mille,  mille,  mille  clecollavimus. 

Mille  Sarmatas,  mille  Francos  occiclimus, 

Mille,  mille,  mille,  mille,  mille  Persas  quaerimus.4 


In  258  an  insurrection  of  the  legions  of  Pannonia  called  Gal- 
lienus  into  that  province ;  it  had  hardly  been  repressed  when  the 
Alemanni,  not  finding  it  possible  to  get  through  into  Gaul,  where 
the  frontier  was  well  guarded  by  Postumus,  threw  themselves  upon 
Italy,  and  advanced  as  far  as  Ravenna.  In  the  time  of  Aurelian 
they  made  it  their  boast  that  forty  thousand  Alemannic  cavalry  had 


1  Vol.  IV.  chap,  lxvii. 

2  Gallienus  conquering  the  Mein  and  the  Rhine. 

3  Eckhel,  vii.  385,  390-91.  Postumus  issued  similar  coins  (Ibid.  447). 

4  Vopiscus,  Aur.  6.  The  date  of  this  event  is  uncertain.  Tillemont  places  it  too  early,  — 
in  242;  for  Valerian’s  letter  to  the  urban  prefect  (Ibid.  9),  in  which  the  Emperor  calls  him 
liberator  Jllyrici,  Galliarum  restitutor,  and  makes  allusion  to  the  important  services  which  had 
lately  brought  Aurelian  into  notice,  was  written  in  257. 


238 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


GOLD  MEDALLION.2 


watered  their  horses  at  the  river  Po,  and  had  ravaged  a  large  part  of 
the  peninsula.1  It  was  the  first  time  since  the  Cimbric  invasion  that 

the  Germans  touched,  otherwise  than  as  captives, 
the  sacred  soil  of  old  Italy.  The  Alps,  then,  were 
no  longer  an  insurmountable  barrier,  and  the 
fear  of  the  Gallic  “  tumults,”  which  four  victo¬ 
rious  centuries  had  dispelled,  broke  out  afresh. 
Rome  was  in  alarm.  In  the  absence  of  the  Em¬ 
perors,  the  Senate  levied  troops  and  armed  the 
citizens :  it  was  the  first  worthy  act  done  by  them  for  many  years. 
The  Allemanni,  doubtless  less  numerous3  than  they  afterwards  rep¬ 
resented  themselves  to  be,  and  already  laden  with 
booty,  made  a  disorderly  retreat  towards  the  Alps. 

Gallienus  had  time  to  arrive  from  Pannonia,  and  he 
defeated  some  detachments  near  Milan  (258  or  259). 

In  the  hope  of  preventing  the  return  of  similar  in- 
cursions,  he  employed  upon  the  Danube  the  policy  alloy.4 
which  had  seemed  to  succeed  upon  the  Rhine,  —  that  of  alliances 
bought  by  gifts  or  honors ;  he  married  the  daughter  of  a  king 
of  the  Marcomanni,  Pipa  by  name,  and  seated  her  beside  the 
Empress  Cornelia  Salonina.  The  fair-haired  German  became  the 
Emperor’s  favorite,  and  supreme  in  the  palace,  where  Salonina  con¬ 
soled  herself  with  empty  honors  and  the  study  of  philosophy  under 
the  leader  of  the  new  Alexandrian  school.5 


1  Dexippos,  Exccrpta  de  Legal.,  in  the  Scriptores  Historiae  Byzantinae  ;  Orosius,  vii.  22. 

2  P.  M.  TR.  P.  VIII.  COS.  IIII.  P.  P.  The  Emperor,  wearing  the  praetexta,  holding  a 
wand  in  the  left  hand  and  a  patera  in  the  right,  sacrifices  at  a  lighted  altar.  Cf.  Mowat, 
Tre'sor  de  Monaco ,  p.  9.  This  medallion  is  regarded  with  great  doubt  by  M.  Muret  on  ac¬ 
count  of  the  contradiction  between  COS.  III.  on  the  reverse  and  COS.  V.  on  the  face. 
Reverse  of  a  gold  medallion  of  Gallienus  found  at  Monaco  in  1879. 

3  Zonaras  says  three  hundred  thousand ;  but  he  adds  that  Gallienus  defeated  them  with 
ten  thousand  men. 

4  The  Empress  Salonina,  seated,  holding  a  sceptre  and  an  olive-branch.  Reverse  of  a 
coin  of  Salonina,  with  the  legend :  AYG.  IN  PACE. 

5  Pipa,  notwithstanding  the  affection  of  Gallienus,  remained  only  a  concubine.  There  is 
neither  medal  nor  inscription  bearing  her  name,  while  Salonina  is  always  called  Augusta.  On 
the  coins  of  Gallienus  are  seen  the  heads  of  the  husband  and  wife.  There  exists  a  coin  of 
Salonina  with  the  Christian  legend,  in  pace.  I  do  not,  however,  believe  that  Salonina  reso¬ 
lutely  entered  the  Church,  where  she  would  not  have  been  received  without  a  conspicuous 
repudiation  of  heathen  rites;  and  the  Empress  who  built  a  temple  to  Segetia,  the  goddess 
of  Harvests,  certainly  never  made  that  abjuration.  But  inquisitive  in  respect  to  the  ideas 
current  in  her  time,  and  troubled  by  the  disasters  of  the  Empire  and  her  own  domestic 
unhappiness,  doubtless  the  friend  of  Plotinus  aspired  to  the  peace  which  Christianity  and 


FROM  ACCESSION  OF  DECIUS  TO  DEATH  OF  GALLIENUS.  239 


Without  doubt  an  important  law  of  Gallienus  is  due  to  the 
invasion  of  the  Alemanni.  The  warlike  zeal  lately  shown  by  the 
Senate  disturbed  him.  A  rescript  prohibited  to  the  Conscript 
Fathers  military  service, 
and  they  were  forbidden 
to  appear  in  an  army  or 
in  a  camp.1  In  the  pre¬ 
ceding  chapter  we  have 
seen  the  results  of  this 
decision. 

The  Marcomanni  and 
the  Goths,  with  their  al¬ 
lies  the  Carpae,  the  Bo- 
ranae,  and  the  Burgundii, 
caused  Illyria,  Macedonia, 

Thrace,  and  Greece  to 
suffer  the  woes  that  the 
Franks  had  inflicted  upon 
Gaul,  and  the  Alemanni, 
upon  Italy.  All  these 
provinces  were  desolated 
by  devastations,  murders, 
and  a  multitude  of  small 
engagements,  of  which  we 
know  neither  the  place 

,,  -i  .  i  ,  •  ,  •  ,  THE  EMPRESS  SALONINA.” 

nor  the  date,  but  m  which 

the  generals  gained  reputation  and  the  selfish  affection  of  a  few 
soldiers,  and  later  the  dangerous  honor  of  being  by  them  elected 
to  the  Empire,  —  a  formidable  favor,  which  was  equivalent  to 
a  death-sentence  with  short  reprieve.  One  of  these  generals, 
Aurelian,  was  to  keep  the  purple  for  five  years,  and  to  be  a  great 
ruler.3  In  a  letter  of  257  to  the  urban  prefect,  Valerian  calls  him 


the  neo-Platonists  promised  after  death.  Her  husband,  who  promulgated  the  first  edict  of  tol¬ 
eration  in  favor  of  the  Christians,  is  believed  to  have  done  this  from  consideration  for  the  Em¬ 
press,  who,  it  is  thought,  inclined  him  to  benevolence  towards  the  adherents  of  the  new  faith. 
See  M.  de  Witte’s  Memoir e  sur  Vimperatrice  Scilonine,  1852. 

1  Aur.  Victor,  33;  cf.  id.  27.  From  that  time  forward  the  praefectus  lecjionis  took  the 
place  of  legionary  legate. 

2  Museum  of  the  Capitol. 

3  Another,  Valens,  who  was  to  be  Emperor  for  a  very  brief  time,  appears  to  have  com- 


240 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


the  liberator  of  Illyria,  and  says  that  he  had  cleared  this  province 
of  Barbarians.  For  their  food  these  hordes  drove  along  an  immense 
number  of  cattle  ;  Aurelian  took  so  many  from  them  that  he  was 
able  to  distribute  among  several  Thracian  towns  a  great  number 
of  oxen  and  horses.  He  even  sent  to  Rome,  for  one  of  Valerian’s 


ROMAN  AUXILIARY  ON  HORSEBACK,  KILLING  AN  ENEMY.1 


villas,  five  hundred  choice  slaves,  two  thousand  cows,  two  thousand 
mares,  ten  thousand  sheep,  and  fifteen  thousand  goats.2 

The  circle  of  barbarism  which  enveloped  the  Empire  was  now 
closing  in  on  every  side,  and  Asia,  as  well  as  Europe,  had  its  invasions. 

The  garrisons  of  the  Roman  posts,  established,  as  we  have  seen, 
along  the  southern  shores  of  the  Euxine  as  far  as  Sebastopolis,3  at 
the  foot  of  the  Caucasus,  had  been  reduced,  in  order  to  furnish 
soldiers  for  the  continual  revolutions  of  the  Empire  ;  and  seditions 
which  the  Antonines  would  have  prevented  placed  the  kingdom 

pelled  the  Gauls  to  raise  the  siege  of  Thessalonica.  At  least,  in  Amm.  Marcellinus  (xxi.  16), 
he  has  the  surname  of  Thessalonicus. 

1  Monument  found  near  Mayence  (Lindenschmit,  op.  cit.  pi.  vii.  No.  3). 

2  Yopiscus,  Aur.  10.  8  See  Vol.  V.  pp.  25  et  seq. 


FROM  ACCESSION  OF  DECIUS  TO  DEATH  OF  GALLIENUS.  241 


of  the  Bosphorus  at  the  mercy  of  its  new  neighbors.1  The 
Cimmerians  gave  up  their  vessels  to  the  Goths,  the  Alans,  and  the 
Heruli ;  and  these  extemporized  pirates  were  carried  by  the  sailors 
of  the  Bosphorus  “  across  the  inhospitable  sea  ”  as  far  as  the 


Asiatic  coasts.  They  seized  upon  Pityus,  and  then  upon  the  great 
city  of  Trebizond,  where  three  centuries  of  prosperity  had  heaped 
up  immense  wealth,  which  a  numerous  garrison  was  not  able  to 
protect.3 

1  The  kings  of  the  Bosphorus  put  on  their  coins  the  effigy  of  the  reigning  emperor . 
Decius,  Gallus,  Volusianus,  Ilostilianus,  Aemilianus,  Gallienus,  Odenathus,  Probus,  and  so  on. 
Cf.  Eckhel,  iii.  306,  and  Cary,  Hist,  des  rois  du  BospJi.  pp.  76-78.  But  these  kings  were 
now  at  the  mercy  of  their  Barbarian  neighbors.  Accordingly,  a  gap  of  several  years  in 
the  coins  of  Rhascuporis  IV.  announces  the  troubles  by  which  a  Barbarian  usurper,  Inintln- 
mevus,  profited.  Phareanses,  who  seems  to  have  reigned  but  a  short  time  about  the  year  253, 
has  also  a  name  of  doubtful  aspect.  A  Rhascuporis  VIT.  reigned  from  254  to  266,  and  prob¬ 
ably  longer  (  T res  nr  de  nuinism.  p.  63). 

2  See  Vol.  III.  p.  120,  a  pendant  found  in  the  same  tomb. 

3  There  were  two  expeditions  :  the  first,  which  failed,  probably  in  255  ;  the  second  and 
successful  attempt,  in  257  (Zosimus,  i.  32,  33). 


VOL.  VII. 


16 


242 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  208  a.  d. 


The  rumor  of  this  important  capture  fired  the  ardor  of  the 
Goths  of  the  Danube.  They  obliged  their  Roman  prisoners  to  con¬ 
struct  vessels,  in  which  they  sailed  along  the  coast,  while  the  main 
body  of  the  invading  army,  crossing  the  river,  traversed  all  Thrace 
undisturbed,  and  arriving  in  the  neighborhood  of  Byzantium,  found 


ISLAND  AND  SANCTUARY  OF  APOLLO,  IN  THE  RHYNDACUS.1  (PRESENT  CONDITION.) 


on  the  shore  a  great  multitude  of  fishermen,  who  consented  to 
lend  their  little  boats,  —  without  doubt  for  the  sake  of  sharing  in 
the  plunder.  “  From  Chalcedon  to  the  temple  at  the  entrance  of 
the  Thracian  Bosphorus,”  there  were  forces  more  considerable  than 


ISLAND  AND  SANCTUARY  OF  APOLLO,  IN  THE  RHYNDACUS.1  (RESTORATION  BY 

GUILLAUME.) 


those  of  the  Barbarians ;  but  the  Romans,  seized  with  terror,  fled, 
and  the  Goths  entered  Chalcedon,  Nicomedeia,  the  future  capital 
of  Diocletian,  Nicaea,  Cius,  Apameia,  Prusa,  and  Apollonia,  which 
its  temple  of  Apollo  did  not  protect,  built  upon  an  island  in  a 
beautiful  lake  formed  and  traversed  by  the  Rhyndacus.  Cyzicus 
escaped  because  the  invaders  could  not  cross  the  swollen  river. 

1  Lebas  and  Waddington,  Voy.  archeol.  en  Grece  et  en  Asie  Min.:  Architecture ,  pi.  1,  2. 


FROM  ACCESSION  OF  DECIUS  TO  DEATH  OF  GALLIENUS.  243 


All  Bithynia  was  sacked,  and  the  Roman  legions  nowhere  dared 
to  make  a  stand  against  the  enemy.  The  people  fled  in  inexpres¬ 
sible  alarm,  and  many  of  these  wretched  creatures,  among  whom  we 
are  forced  to  enumerate  some  of  the  Christians,  took  advantage  of 
this  immense  disorganization  to  pillage  in  their  turn  (early  in  the 
year  258).  The  poor  Jacquerie  of  France  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
yielding  in  the  presence  of  similar  disasters  to  a  savage  despair, 
said :  “  The  devil  is  unchained ;  let  us  do  our  worst.”  Three  cen¬ 
turies  later,  by  the  ruins  they  left  behind  them,  the  road  the  Goths 
traversed  could  be  made  out.  “  They  carried  back  into  their  country 
immense  booty,”  says  Zosimus,  “  and  they  gave  great  honors  to 
Chrysogonos,  who  had  advised  this  expedition.”  1 

The  preceding  year  Valerian  had  held  at  Byzantium  a  great 
council  of  war,  in  presence  of  the  officers  of  the  palace  and  of  the 
army.  We  have  the  order  of  precedence  in  this  assembly,  and 
give  it  to  show  the  new  dignities  that  were  coming  into  existence. 
At  the  right  of  the  Emperor  were  seated  one  of  the  consuls,  the 
praetorian  prefect,  and  the  governor  of  the  East ;  on  his  left,  the 
dux  of  the  Scythian  frontier,  the  Egyptian  prefect,  the  dux  of 
the  Oriental  frontier,  the  prefect  of  the  Eastern  annona,  the  duces 
of  Illyricum  and  Thrace,  and  lastly  the  dux  of  the  Rhaetian 
border.  The  foolish  chronicler,  who  had  the  opportunity  to  read 
the  report  of  this  session,  does  not  make  known  to  us  the  serious 
deliberations  which  filled  it ;  he  contents  himself  with  saying  that 
Valerian  decreed  on  this  occasion  extraordinary  commendation  to 
Aurelian  for  recent  victories  in  Illyria  over  Gothic  and  Sarmatian 
bands.2 

Where  was  the  conqueror  of  the  Franks  and  Goths  at  the 
time  of  the  disasters  which  have  just  been  described?  Doubtless 
at  Antioch  with  Valerian.  This  Emperor  did  nothing  to  prevent 
or  arrest  the  misfortunes  from  which  Bithynia  suffered.  He 
merely  sent  a  general  to  Byzantium  to  guard  that  important  point. 

1  Jordanes  (De  Gothorum  gestis,  20)  says  that  the  Goths  burned  Ilium  and  the  temple  of 
Diana  at  Ephesus  ;  he  adds  that  in  his  time  (the  sixth  century)  there  were  still  to  be  seen  at 
Chalcedon  the  ruins  that  they  had  caused.  Zosimus  (i.  35)  does  not  say  who  this  Chrysogonos 
was ;  but  it  is  apparent  that  these  Barbarians  were  not  too  barbarous  to  take  advantage  of 
traitors,  and  collect  the  information  necessary  to  the  success  of  their  expeditions. 

2  Vopiscus,  Aur.  15.  Valerian  gave  him  at  this  time  not  the  consulship,  as  Vopiscus  says, 
but  the  consular  ornaments.  Inscriptions  and  coins  prove  that  Aurelian  was  consul  for  the 
first  time  in  271.  (See  Eckhel,  vii.  479.)  . 


244 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


* 

But  the  Goths  had  not  as  yet  formed  the  design  of  establishing 
themselves  permanently  in  the  Empire,  and  their  retreat  was  doubt¬ 
less  caused  less  by  the  approach  of  the  Emperor,  who  advanced 
into  Cappadocia,  than  by  the  desire  to  place  in  safety  before  the 
stormy  season 1  the  booty  with  which  their  vessels  were  loaded,  —  a 

booty  whose  magnitude  and  value  surpassed 
all  their  expectations.2 3 

The  Gothic  inroads  were  probably  con¬ 
nected  with  another  invasion,  which  seemed 
likely  to  drive  the  Romans  out  of  Asia ;  namely, 
that  of  Sapor.  At  least  wre  see  that  the  Bar¬ 
barians  made  their  attack  first  upon  the  cities 
where  the  roads  from  Armenia  came  in,  of 
which  country  the  Persians  were  taking  possession ;  and  in  occupy¬ 
ing  Cappadocia,  Valerian  seems  to  have  had  the  design  of  placing 
himself  between  the  two  allies. 

If  it  be  said  that  this  is  ascribing  to  these  savage  tribes  too 
extensive  combinations,  we  must  remember  the  embassies  sent  by 
the  Dacians  to  the  Arsacidae  in  the  time  of  Trajan.  The  Amales 
required  no  great  efforts  of  political  intelligence  to  understand  and 
follow  the  traditions  of  the  Decebalus.4 

Sapor  had  assassinated  Chosroes,5 6  the  king  of  Armenia,  and 
had  placed  one  of  his  own  partisans  upon  the  throne.  For  more 
than  a  quarter  of  a  century  this  country  was  like  a  Persian  prov¬ 
ince,  —  to  the  great  grief  of  its  inhabitants ;  for  the  Persians  perse- 


1  The  ancients  were  reluctant  to  venture  upon  the  Euxine  earlier  than  May,  or  later  than 
September. 

2  Sozomenes  (Hist.  eccl.  ii.  6)  and  Philostorges  (Hist.  eccl.  ii.  5)  say  that  among  the 
captives  were  priests,  who  converted  multitudes  of  Barbarians  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine  and 
the  Danube.  The  work  of  conversion  was  possibly  beginning  among  the  Goths  at  this  period  ; 
in  325  a  bishop  from  this  nation  sat  in  the  Council  of  Nicaea :  but  in  Western  Germany  there 
were  no  Christians,  before  Clovis,  among  the  Franks  whom  Sozomenus  seems  to  designate,  and 
the  conversion  of  the  Alemanni  took  place  later. 

3  Reverse  of  a  coin  of  Valerian,  struck  at  Antioch,  in  Caria.  ANTIOXEQN.  Bridge 
over  the  Meander;  underneath,  a  couchant  river  and  an  equestrian  statue.  (Bronze.) 

4  Vol.  V.  p.  238.  Pliny  arrested  in  Bithynia  an  emissary  from  the  Decebalus  to  Chos¬ 
roes.  In  the  reign  of  Marcus  Aurelius  the  powerful  league  of  the  Marcomanni  was  formed, 
in  165,  shortly  after  the  great  successes  of  Vologeses  in  Armenia  and  over  the  Syrian 
legions. 

O 

6  Tiridates,  the  son  of  Chosroes,  was  saved  by  the  satraps  and  sent  to  Rome,  and  in  287 
Diocletian  placed  him  upon  the  throne  of  his  fathers  (Moses  Chorenes,  Hist.  Armeniaca.  ii. 
69-75). 


FROM  ACCESSION  OF  DECIUS  TO  DEATH  OF  GALLIENUS.  245 


cuted  all  those  who  followed  the  national  customs,  destroying  all 
buildings  of  a  sacred  character,  temples  of  the  Sun  and  Moon: 
and  the  sacred  fire  of  Ormuzd  constantly  burning  upon  altars,  was 
a  reminder  of  the  triumph  of  a  hostile  race 
and  a  foreign  religion.  Thus  another  bulwark 
of  the  Empire,  and  one  of  its  best  defences, 
was  destroyed. 

The  possession  of  Armenia  by  the  Persians 
in  fact  rendered  easy  their  conquest  of  Meso¬ 
potamia,  where  Sapor  took  the  fortified  towns 
Nisibis  and  Carrhae.  The  situation,  therefore, 
was  very  threatening,  and  it  was  due  to  those 
who,  in  less  than  forty  years,  had  caused,  either 
directly  or  indirectly,  ten  military  revolutions. 

The  Romans,  remaining  masters  of  Edessa, 
barred  to  the  Persian  army  one  of  the  roads  into  Asia  Minor ;  and 
the  Cilician  Gates,  without  doubt  well  guarded  at  that  time,  closed 
the  other.  Sapor,  with  his  inefficient  infantry,1 2  was  not  able  to 
force  a  passage  through  the  mountains,  and  he  could  not  hinder  a 
Roman  army  from  coming  down  into  Syria;  Valerian,  indeed, 
entered  Antioch  without  fighting.  The  appearance  of  the  Goths  in 
Bithynia  obliged  him  to  return  into  Asia  Minor,  u  where,”  says 
Zosimus,  “he  did  nothing  save  vex  the  people  as  he  passed  through.” 
The  retreat  of  the  Barbarians  permitted  him  at  last  to  leave  Cap¬ 
padocia  and  march  upon  Edessa,  which,  for  many  years  blockaded, 
still  held  out.  But  his  troops  had  suffered  greatly  from  pestilence ; 
and  a  defeat  which  he  experienced,  together  with  the  clamors  of 
the  army,  decided  him  to  negotiate.  Sapor  refusing  to  receive 
envoys  from  the  Emperor,  the  latter  requested  a  personal  interview, 
repeating  the  error  of  Crassus.  When  the  astute  Barbarian  saw 
the  Emperor  come  to  him  attended  by  only  a  small  guard,  he 
caused  Valerian  to  be  surrounded  by  the  Persian  cavalry  and 
made  prisoner  (260). 3  He  lived  six  years  in  captivity,  enduring 

1  Bust  of  the  king,  wearing  the  diadem  and  placed  on  a  lion’s  head  surmounted  by  two 

wings.  Intaglio  on  sardonyx  (20  millim.  by  18).  ( Cabinet  de  France ,  No.  1,347.) 

2  In  respect  to  the  Persian  infantry,  see  Amm.  Marcellinus,  xxiii.  6. 

'  3  This  is  the  account  given  by  Zosimus  (i.  3).  Zonaras  speaks  of  a  battle  and  a  defeat. 
He  adds  that  there  was  a  tradition  of  a  mutiny  in  the  Roman  army  which  had  caused  Valerian 
to  seek  refuge  with  Sapor,  npos  top  Sairmprjv  KciTecpvyev- 


246 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


shameful  ill-treatment  ;  and  after  his  death,1  his  skin,  tanned, 
stuffed,  and  colored  red,  was  hung  from  the  roof  of  the  most 
important  temple  in  Persia,  where  it  remained  for  several  centuries.2 
The  rocks  of  Nakeh-Roustem  and  of  Schahpur  retained  the  story 
of  this  great  Roman  humiliation ;  and  the  horsemen  there  seen 
treading  legionaries  under  their  horses’  feet,  perhaps  gave  rise  to 
the  legend  that  Sapor  used  the  Roman  Emperor  as  a  horse-block 
to  mount  by.3 

The  Persian  king  took  advantage  of  the  consternation  which 
this  event  caused  in  the  Roman  army  to  endeavor  to  seize  the 
Empire  as  well  as  the  Emperor.  Guided  by  the  traitor  Cyriades, 
he  penetrated  into  Syria.  One  day,  as  the  inhabitants  of  Antioch 
were  witnessing  a  performance  in  the  theatre,  one  of  them  cried 
out  suddenly :  “  I  am  dreaming,  or  else  the  Persians  are  upon  us  !  ” 
A  few  moments  later,  arrows  began  to  fall  amongst  the  crowd,  and 
the  city  was  pitilessly  sacked.4  Terror  again  seized  upon  all  these 
provinces.  It  was  asserted  that  Emesa  had  been  saved  by  its 
divinity.5  Probably  the  great  mass  of  the  Persian  forces  was  in 
the  northern  part  of  the  province,  and  only  a  detachment,  easily 
to  be  resisted,  was  sent  to  the  holy  city ;  or  else  Sapor,  through 
policy,  respected  a  temple  venerated  by  all  the  nations  in  this- 
region. 

All  the  attention  of  the  Persians  was  now  turned  towards 
Asia  Minor ;  that  being  conquered,  the  rest  would  fall.  They 
traversed  unopposed  the  passes  of  Cilicia,  took  the  great  city  of 
Tarsus,  and  besieged  Caesarea,  the  capital  of  Cappadocia,  which  is 
believed  to  have  had  at  this  time  a  population  of  four  hundred 

1  Agathias  even  says  that  he  was  flayed  alive. 

2  What  is  legend,  and  what  is  truth  in  this  story  ?  It  is  not  easy  to  say.  A  letter  from 
Constantine  to  Sapor  II.,  quoted  by  Eusebius  ( Life  of  Const,  iv.  11),  and  the  words  of  Galerius 
to  Narses,  related  by  Peter  Patricius  ( Excerpta  de  Legat.  in  the  Collectanea  of  Const.  VII), 
attest  that  Valerian  certainly  suffered  the  most  humiliating  of  captivities ;  it  lasted,  according 
to  the  Chronicle  of  Alexandria,  until  269.  But  Treb.  Pollio  (Tyr.  trig.  14)  places  the  death 
of  Valerian  before  that  of  Odenathus,  consequently  in  266  :  .  .  .  Iratum  fuisse  reipublicae 
Deum  credo,  qui,  interfecto  Valenano,  noluit  Odenatum  reservari. 

3  The  bas-relief  of  Darabgerd  shows  Sapor  treading  under  his  horse’s  feet  a  prostrate 
man,  on  whose  head  seems  to  be  a  fragment  of  a  laurel-wreath  (Flandin,  Perse  ancienne,  pi. 
xxxiii.).  But  this  was  a  symbol  of  victory  much  in  use  among  the  Persians,  and  we  are  not  to 
conclude  that  this  sculpture  represents  a  real  action. 

4  Amm.  Marcellinus  (xxiii.  5)  places  this  in  the  reign  of  Gallienus;  that  is,  after  the  cap¬ 
tivity  of  Valerian. 

5  John  Malalas. 


FROM  ACCESSION  OF  DECIUS  TO  DEATH  OF  GALLIENUS.  247 


thousand  inhabitants.  The  city  held  out  for  a  long  time,  until  a 
prisoner,  being  put  to  the  torture,  revealed  a  weak  point  in  the 
defences,  through  which  the  besiegers  by  night  entered  the  place. 
They  had  been  ordered  to  seize  the  brave  Demosthenes,  who  had 
directed  the  defence ;  but  he  ctlt  his  way  through  on  horseback, 
killing  many  of  the  enemy,  and  made  his  escape.1  Two  years 
earlier  than  this  the  Persians  would  have  been  able  from  Cappa¬ 
docia  to  reach  the  Goths,  masters  of  Bithynia.  But  the  Barbarians 
of  the  South  did  not  need  aid  from  the  Barbarians  of  the  North 
to  reach  the  Propontis  and  the  Sea  of  the  Cyclades.  Terror  went 
before  them.  “  They  might  easily,”  says  Zosimus,  “have  made 
themselves  masters  of  the  whole  of  Asia,  if  they  had  not  been  in 
haste  to  enjoy  their  victory  at  home  and  to  carry  off  their 
booty.” 2  After  their  departure  the  Syrians  took  revenge  upon 
the  traitor  Cyriades,3  who  had  assumed  the  title  of  Augustus,  and 
burned  him  alive. 

It  is  said  that  when  Sapor  announced  his  victory  to  all  the 
neighboring  or  allied  nations,  the  latter,  terrified  at  this  great 
triumph,  concealed  their  fears  under  the  counsels  of  philosophic 
moderation  which  they  sent  back  in  reply.4  The  son  of  Valerian, 
however,  had  no  need  of  the  consolations  of  wisdom  to  appease  a 
grief  which  he  did  not  feel.  “I  knew,”  he  said,  “that  my  father  was 
mortal;  besides,  he  has  fallen  like  a  brave  man;”  and  considering 
him  as  already  dead,  Gallienus  apotheosized  him.  Possibly  these 
words  might  have  been  pardoned  to  a  son  who  had  followed  them 
by  energetic  acts  to  avenge  his  father  and  the  Empire ;  but  this 
affectation  of  stoicism  was  only  unfilial  cowardice. 

The  reign  of  Valerian  is  marked  by  the  most  cruel  persecution 
that  the  Church  had  yet  endured.  When  the  pagan  inhabitants  of 
the  Empire  beheld  Barbarians  threatening  the  very  heart  of  Italy 
and  ravaging  two  thirds  of  the  provinces,  their  anger  was  turned 
—  as  often  before  in  cases  of  public  calamity  —  against  this  foreign 
people  living  among  them,  indifferent  to  their  griefs,  and  refusing 
to  take  arms  against  the  common  enemy.  As  if  entering  reluctantly 

1  Zonaras,  xii.  23. 

2  Amm.  Marcellinus  (xxiii.  5)  also  speaks  of  this  precipitate  departure. 

8  Or  Mariades.  Cf.  Fragm.  hist.  Graec.  v.  192  (Didot). 

4  These  letters  must  be  fabrications,  however,  for  the  Persian  archives  certainly  were  not 
open  to  the  writers  of  the  A  ugustan  History. 


248 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


upon  the  career  of  persecution,  the  Emperors  in  their  first  letters 
simply  forbade  assemblages  of  Christians,  and  denied  them  access 
to  their  cemeteries ;  no  one  was  required  to  renounce  the  worship 
of  Christ,  but  all  were  ordered  to  conform  to  the  Roman  cult, 
—  which  was,  however,  equivalent  to  apostasy ;  and,  finally,  the 
contumacious  were  as  yet  punished  with  exile  only.  The  acts  of 
Cyprian  exhibit  this  first  phase  of  persecution,  which  does  not 
seem  to  have  struck  outside  of  the  clergy. 

“In  the  fourth  consulship  of  the  Emperor  Valerianus  and  the 
third  of  Gallienus,  the  third  day  before  the  kalends  of  September  ” 
(30th  August,  257),  “in  the  audience-hall  at  Carthage,  the  proconsul 
Paternus  said  to  the  Bishop  Cyprian :  e  The  most  sacred  Emperors 
Valerianus  and  Gallienus  have  deigned  to  address  letters  to  me, 


in  which  they  order  all  persons  not  professing  the  Roman  religion 
to  observe  without  delay  all  its  ceremonies.  I  have  therefore 
summoned  you  to  ascertain  your  intentions.  What  answer  have 
you  to  make  ?  ’  The  Bishop  Cyprian  replied :  4 1  am  a  Christian 
and  a  bishop.  I  know  no  other  god  than  the  one  true  God  who 
made  heaven  and  earth,  the  sea,  and  all  that  in  them  is.  This 
God  we  Christians  serve,  to  Him  we  pray  night  and  day,  for 
ourselves  and  for  all  men,  and  especially  for  the  safety  of  the 
Emperors.’  The  proconsul  said :  4  Do  you  persist  in  this  resolu¬ 
tion  ?  ’  The  Bishop  Cyprian  replied  :  ‘  The  goodwill  that  has 

once  known  God  never  changes.’  The  proconsul  Paternus  said : 
‘  You  may  prepare,  then,  to  go  into  exile  in  the  city  of  Curubis : 
so  Valerianus  and  Gallienus  command.’  The  Bishop  Cyprian  replied  : 
( I  am  ready  to  go.’  The  proconsul  Paternus  said :  ‘  The  orders 
which  I  have  received  concern  not  only  bishops,  but  also  priests. 
I  wish,  therefore,  to  know  the  names  of  the  priests  dwelling  in 
this  city.’  The  Bishop  Cyprian  replied:  ‘Well  and  wisely  have 
your  laws  prohibited  giving  information ;  I,  therefore,  cannot  make 
known  to  you  or  give  up  to  you  those  of  whom  you  speak;  you 
will  find  them  in  the  cities  where  they  dwell.’  The  proconsul 
Paternus  said :  4  It  is  my  will  that  they  appear  before  me  to-day 
in  this  place.’  Cyprian  answered :  ‘  The  rules  of  our  order  forbid 
them  to  surrender  themselves,  and  in  this  you  cannot  blame  their 
conduct ;  but  seek  for  them,  and  you  will  find  them.’  The  pro- 
consul  Paternus  said :  1  Fear  not ;  I  will  find  them.’  And  he 


Ilf** 

ill 


7  $$££2  ' 

>mm 


Wi3f 


mm 

§&p 


'  P  V:.'^| 

Mp 


f§p» 


VALERIAN  PROSTRATE  BEFORE  SAPOR,  WHO  IS  ON  HORSEBACK.  BAS-RELIEF  OF  NAlvEII-ROUSTEM,  UNDER  THE  TOMBS  OF  TIIR  KINGS 

(ENVIRONS  OF  PERSEPOLIs).  FROM  A  PHOTOGRAPH  BY  M.  DIEULAFOY- 


file  Library 
of  the 

Untoeraity  of  llffp**4* 


FROM  ACCESSION  OF  DECIUS  TO  DEATH  OF  GALLIENUS.  249 


this  wise  prohibition  will  be  punished  with  death.’  The  Bishop 
Cyprian:  ‘Do  whatever  is  commanded  you.’’’1 2 

1  Bust  of  the  Capitol,  Hall  of  the  Emperors,  No.  76. 

2  Freppel,  Saint  Cyprien,  pp.  477,  478,  from  the  proconsular  reports  of  the  martyrdom  of 
Saint  Cyprian.  Dionysius,  bishop  of  Alexandria,  suffered  no  other  penalty  than  exile  into  the 
Libyan  desert,  three  days’ journey  from  Paraetonium  (Euseb.,  Hist.  eccl.  vii.  11).  Interrogated 
by  the  prefect  of  Egypt,  he  had  made  Saint  Paul’s  famous  reply  (Acts  v.  29),  which  Polycrates  of 
Ephesus  had  also  repeated  (Hist.  eccl.  v.  24).  — a  reply  by  which  the  social  bond  may  at  any 
time  be  broken  :  “  We  must  obey  God  rather  than  men  ;  ”  that  is  to  say,  a  man’s  own  ideas,  which 


added :  ‘  The  Emperors  also  forbid  meetings  in  any  place  what¬ 
soever,  and  the  entering  of  cemeteries.  Whoever  shall  violate 


GALLIENUS. 1 


250 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


The  successor  of  Patemus  removed  the  sentence  of  exile  decreed 
against  Cyprian,  and  suffered  him  to  reside  outside  the  gates 
of  Carthage  in  a  house  which  belonged  to  the  bishop.  But  the 
calamities  of  the  Empire  increased.  Emperors  who  could  not  defend 
themselves,  believed  that  they  might  obtain  the  assistance  of 
Heaven  by  avenging  their  gods.  In  the  middle  of  the  year  258 
Valerian  sent  to  the  Senate  the  following  rescript :  — 

“  Bishops,  priests,  and  deacons  shall  be  punished  with  death ; 
senators,  officers,  and  knights  degraded  and  deprived  of  their  goods. 
If  they  persist,  death.  Women  of  honorable  birth  shall  be 
banished.  Freedmen  of  the  palace  shall  be  sent  as  slaves  to  the 
Emperor’s  domains.”  1 

We  will  further  give  the  last  examination  of  Saint  Cyprian, 
showing  the  general  method  of  procedure  against  the  martyrs. 

“  The  proconsul  Galerius  Maximus  said  to  Cyprian :  ‘  You 

are  Thascius  Cyprianus  ?  ’  The  bishop  answered :  ‘  I  am.’  The 
proconsul  said :  4  You  are  the  bishop  of  these  sacrilegious  per¬ 

sons  ?  ’  e  I  am.’  4  The  most  sacred  Emperors  have  ordered  you  to 
sacrifice  to  the  gods.’  ‘  I  shall  not  do  so.’  4  Reflect  upon  your 
conduct.’  ‘  Do  what  you  are  ordered ;  in  a  thing  so  right,  I 
have  no  occasion  to  deliberate.’  Galerius  Maximus,  after  taking 
the  advice  of  his  council,  expressed  himself  as  follows :  4  You 

have  long  held  sacrilegious  opinions ;  you  have  brought  many  men 
into  this  impious  conspiracy,  thus  placing  yourselves  in  hostility 
towards  the  gods  of  Rome  and  the  laws  of  religion ;  and  the 
pious  and  most  sacred  Emperors  Valerianus  and  Gallienus,  Augusti, 
and  the  very  illustrious  Valerianus  Caesar,  have  not  been  able  to 
bring  you  back  to  the  observance  of  their  religious  ceremonies. 
For  this  reason  you,  being  the  author  of  the  most  infamous  crimes, 
and  the  standard-bearer  of  the  sect,  shall  serve  as  an  example  to 
those  whom  you  have  led  astray  by  your  criminal  machinations ; 
your  blood  shall  pay  the  penalty  of  the  law.’  Having  said  this, 
he  took  his  tablets  and  wrote  the  sentence  which  he  had  uttered 
aloud:  e  We  condemn  Thascius  Cyprianus  to  be  beheaded.’  The 

lie  believes  to  come  from  divine  revelation  or  inspiration,  rather  than  the  law  of  the  land.  In 
the  case  of  the  Christians,  the  state  was  in  the  wrong,  and  their  resistance  was  legitimate ;  but 
the  formula  is  dangerous,  for  it  will  not  always  be  employed  in  protecting  the  rights  which 
ought  to  be  protected,  —  namely,  those  of  conscience. 

1  Saint  Cyprian,  Ep.  82,  ad  Successum.  The  edict  of  Valerian  is  given  there. 


FROM  ACCESSION  OF  DECIUS  TO  DEATH  OF  GALLIENUS.  251 


bishop  said:  ‘  God  be  praised!  ’ 1,1  The  guards  then  led  him  away. 
Arriving  at  the  place  of  execution,  Cyprian  took  off  his  outer 
garment,  knelt,  and  prayed  some  time.  Then  he  gave  his  dalmatic 
to  the  deacons,  himself  bandaged  his  eyes,  and  directed  his  followers 
after  his  death  to  give  to  the  executioner  twenty-five  gold  pieces. 
The  brethren  held  strips  of  cloth  around  him  to  collect  the 
martvr’s  blood.  The  executioner  trembled  when  he  struck  the 

i/ 


mortal  blow.  All  the  pagans  must  have  trembled  also  when  they 
witnessed  these  triumphant  deaths  (14th  September,  258). 

Cyprian  was  among  the  favored  ones :  his  was  the  easiest 
death ;  others  were  burned  alive,  like  the  Bishop  of  Tarragona,  or 
thrown  to  the  wild  beasts.  Rome  paid  largely  the  debt  of  blood. 
Pope  Sixtus  II.  was  one  of  the  first  to  perish.  Being  surprised 
in  the  catacombs  while  celebrating  the  holy  mysteries,  he  was 
beheaded  ;  and  his  deacon,  Saint  Lawrence,  was  burned  at  a  slow  fire. 
Wherever  Christian  communities  had  been  established,  many  priests, 

1  Freppel,  Saint  Cyprien,  pp.  490-491,  from  the  proconsular  reports. 

2  Roller,  op.  cit.  pi.  lxxvii.  No.  2.  Upon  the  legend,  PIE  ZESES,  see  Yol.  VI.  p.  588,  n.  2 


252 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


deacons,  believers,  and  even  women,  perislied.  Novatian,  who 
brought  into  the  Church  all  the  severitv  of  his  earlier  master,  the 
Stoic  Zeno,  was  one  of  the  victims,  and  possibly  also  Saint  Dionysius, 
who  evangelized  the  North  of  Gaul,  and  Polyeuctes,  whom  Corneille 
has  made  famous.1 

The  Empire  was  rending  itself  with  its  own  hands  —  as  if  famine, 
pestilence,  and  the  Barbarians,  who  seemed  to  the  Christians  “  to  be 
let  loose  by  God  for  this  day  of  wrath,”2  were  not  enough  for  its 
destruction ! 

Gallienus  had  one  merit,  —  he  understood  that  this  persecution 
was  unjust  as  well  as  useless ;  and  as  soon  as  he  was  sole  master 
he  ordered  that  their  cemeteries,  their  possessions,  and  the  freedom 
of  their  worship  should  be  restored  to  the  Christians  (260). 3  Thus 
there  was  one  war  the  less  in  the  Empire.  Unhappily,  many  others 
still  remained. 

At  the  time  when  the  imprudence  of  Valerian  had  given  Syria 
.over  to  the  Persians  there  were  in  the  East  two  men  famous  for 
their  military  talent,  —  Macrianus,  the  principal  lieutenant  of  the 
captive  Emperor,  and  Balista,  who  had  formerly  held  the  office  of 
praetorian  prefect.  They  collected  the  remnant  of  the  army  of 
Edessa,  and  sought  at  Samosata,  in  the  narrow  angle  formed  by 
Mount  Amanus  and  the  Euphrates,  a  place  of  refuge  which  it  would 
be  easy  to  defend.4  By  slow  degrees  courage  returned  to  the  Romans. 
Balista  reached  the  coasts  of  the  Sea  of  Cyprus,  collected  a  flotilla 
on  which  he  embarked  a  few  soldiers,  and  made  successful  descents 
here  and  there  in  Cilicia.  As  the  Persians,  in  the  pride  of  their 
victory,  disdained  all  prudence,  he  frequently  surprised  their  detach¬ 
ments,  and  killed  many  men. 

But  the  best  assistance  came  from  a  side  whence  the  Empire 
expected  nothing.  We  have  frequently  spoken  in  this  History  of 
Palmyra,  its  riches,  its  numerous  population,  and  of  a  family  of 


1  For  details  of  this  persecution,  see  Tillemont,  iii.  415-440.  The  Acts  of  the  mar¬ 
tyrdom  of  Saint  Dionysius,  compiled  in  the  seventh  or  eighth  century,  are  not  authentic. 

2  Orosius,  vii.  22. 

3  Euseb.,  Hist.  eccl.  vii.  13.  Gallienus  seems  to  have  been  a  man  of  gentle  temper. 
A  dealer  having  sold  imitated  gems  to  the  Empress  Salonina,  he  condemned  him  to  be  eaten  by 
a  lion,  and  then  let  loose  against  him  a  capon.  Everybody  laughed,  and  the  Emperor  cried : 
“We  have  deceived  the  deceiver!  ”  (Hist.  Aug.  Gall.  12.) 

4  Fragm.  hist.  Graec.  iv.  193  (Didot). 


FROM  ACCESSION  OF  DECIUS  TO  DEATH  OF  G  ALLIEN  US.  253 


high  rank  there,  the  Odainath,  or  Odenathi.1  The  Palmyrenes, 
for  their  commerce,  had  need  of  the  friendship  of  Sapor.  They 
sent  him  ambassadors  with  rich  presents  to  solicit  his  goodwill. 
The  king  threw  the  gifts  into  the  river,  tore  up  the  letter  that 
the  envoys  had  given  him,  and  demanded  an  absolute  submission.2 
Palmyra  had  at  this  time  as  chief  or  prince  of  its  senate  an  able 
and  determined  man,  very  rich  and  very  influential,  Septimius 
Odenathus.  In  critical  periods  men  of  distinguished  ability  naturally 
take  their  place.  Odenathus  persuaded  his 
countrymen  that  there  was  no  answer  but 
war  to  insults  which  were  a  distinct  threat 
against  their  independence,  and  he  set  on  foot 
preparations  for  it  in  a  suitable  manner.  The 
caravans  had  made  Palmyra’s  fortune.  To 
guide  them,  the  city  had  been  obliged  to  em¬ 
ploy  the  Arabs  of  the  Syrian  desert,  who  all, 
from  the  Orontes  to  the  Pasitigris,  were  in 
her  interests.  Odenathus  reminded  their 
sheiks  of  the  destruction  of  Atra,  the  Arab 
city,  by  Sapor ;  he  convinced  them  that  their  liberty  and  their 
wealth  would  be  lost  if  the  haughty  king  should  drive  the  Romans 
out  of  Asia.  The  Arabs  of  the  present  day  have  two  passions, — 
religion  and  traffic.  Mahomet  had  not  yet  given  his  fellow-country¬ 
men  the  former,  but  the  latter  passion  had  been  extraordinarily 
fostered  by  the  profits  which  the  interchange  of  commodities  between 
the  two  empires  left  in  the  hands  of  the  carriers.  They  gathered 
in  crowds  around  the  u  prince  of  Palmyra,”  and  we  shall  see  them 
establish  an  Arab  empire  for  the  first  time. 

Palmyra  had  a  permanent  Roman  garrison,  and  this  detachment 
served  as  a  nucleus  for  the  new  army.  The  Roman  fugitives 
scattered  throughout  Syria  rallied  about  it,  and  Odenathus  added 
his  Arabs.  The  successes  of  Balista  had  endangered  the  situation 
of  the  Persians  in  Syria :  their  line  of  retreat  was  threatened  on 
the  south  by  the  warlike  preparations  of  Palmyra,  and  on  the  north 

1  Vol.  V.  p.  373,  and  Vol.  VI.  pp.  518  et  seq.  In  April,  258,  Odenathus  had  already 
received  the  consular  ornaments  (Waddington,  Inscr.  de  Syrie,  No.  2,602). 

2  Peter  Patricius,  Excerpta  de  Legaf.  2. 

8  Odenathus,  husband  of  Zenobia  (uncertain).  Engraved  stone  in  the  Cabinet  de  France 
(15  millim.  by  13),  No.  1,399. 


254 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


by  the  garrison  of  Edessa,  which  the  troops  from  Samosata  had  prob¬ 
ably  joined  at  this  time ;  and  upon  this  too  Roman  soil  they  began  to 

be  uneasy.  Sapor  led  his  troops  back 
towards  the  Euphrates,  leaving  many 
of  them  behind  him,  surprised  by  a 
sudden  attack  of  Odenathus.  Arriv¬ 
ing  on  the  right  bank  of  the  river, 
the  Persians  congratulated  one  an¬ 
other,  believing  they  were  safe ;  but 
they  were  still  obliged,  says  Zonaras, 
to  buy  their  passage  by  giving  up 
to  the  army  of  Edessa  all  that  was 
left  to  them  of  Syrian  gold.1  In 
these  deserts  whirlwinds  of  men  ap¬ 
peared.  Drawn  by  the  lure  of  car¬ 
nage  and  booty,  the  nomads  rushed 
thither  from  all  quarters  of  the  hori¬ 
zon,  and  powerful  armies  emerged 
from  the  waste.  Odenathus,  just 
now  joined  by  Balista,  found  himself 
strong  enough  to  undertake  the  con¬ 
quest  of  Mesopotamia  and  to  ven¬ 
ture  on  following,  as  far  as  Ctesiphon 
itself,  the  track  of  Trajan  and  Sep- 
timius  Severus."  In  a  battle  he 
captured  part  of  the  treasures  and 
some  of  the  wives  of  Sapor.  This 
was  the  sharp  reply  of  the  Palmyrenes  to  the  Great  King. 

Odenathus  had  not  been  able  to  set  Valerian  at  liberty,  but 
he  sent  captive  satraps  to  Rome ;  and  Gallienus,  forgetting  his 
father,  celebrated  with  a  triumph  the  victory  which  the  legions 
had  left  the  Bedouins  to  gain. 

From  this  expedition  Odenathus  returned  too  great  to  remain 


SILVER  VASE.3 


1  Peter  Patricius,  Excerpta  de  Legat.  10. 

2  Eutropius,  ix.  10,  11 ;  Malalas,  xii.  227;  Zonaras,  xii.  23. 

8  Cabinet  de  France ,  No.  2,880.  This  monument  of  Persian  art  under  the  Sassanidae  is 
ornamented  with  two  groups  of  lions,  separated  by  the  sacred  tree  Horn.  The  figures  are  in 
repousse  on  a  gold  ground.  This  vase  had  a  handle,  which  is  now  missing.  Cf.  Chabouillet, 
op.  cit.  p.  467,  and  Lenormant,  in  vol.  iii.  of  the  Musee  d’archeol.  of  lathers  Martin  and 
Cahier. 


FROM  ACCESSION  OF  DECIUS  TO  DEATH  OF  G  ALLIEN  US.  255 


longer  a  private  individual.  The  Arabs  proclaimed  him  king ;  and 
Gallienus,  to  attach  to  himself  so  useful  a  servant,  appointed  him 
chief  of  the  imperial  forces  in  that  part  of  the  East,  —  avroKparcov. 
or  imperator  (beginning  of  262).  Later,  after  further  services,  he 
gave  Odenathus  the  title  of  Augustus;  and  the  son  of  the  clients 
of  Severus  took  rank  among  the  Emperors  of  Rome.1 


III.  —  The  Provincial  Emperors  (249-268);  Gallienus. 


Those  who  have  been  called,  in  imitation  of  Athens,  the 
Thirty  Tyrants,  were  neither  thirty  in  number,  nor  were  they 
tyrants.  From  the  captivity  of  Valerian  to  the  death  of  his  son, 
we  count  eighteen  generals  who  were  pro¬ 
claimed  emperor2 3  by  their  troops,  as  had 
been  all  since  the  Antonines ;  and  they 
lacked  only  success  to  take  their  place 
legally  among  the  masters  of  the  Roman 
world.  One  only,  Calpurnius  Piso,  was 
of  the  highest  rank ; 4  another,  Tetricus,  of  senatorial  dignity ;  the 
rest  were  of  obscure  origin.  Moreover,  these  so-called  usurpers  were 
neither  worse  nor  better  than  the  Emperors  whose  names  are  in  the 
official  list :  many  manifested  ability  and  did  service ;  all  of  them 
were  as  legitimate  as  was  Septimius  Severus.  The  Empire  —  that 
is  to  say,  a  union  for  common  defence  —  seemed  no  longer  to  exist, 
since  one  of  the  Emperors  was  captive  in  Ctesiphon,  and  the  other 


COIN  OF  TETRICUS.8 


1  M.  de  Vogue  ( Tnscr ;  sem.  pp.  29  et  seq.)  does  not  believe  that  Odenathus  ever  had  the  title 
of  Augustus.  But,  as  M.  Waddington  remarks  ( lnscr .  de  Syrie,  p.  601),  “at  Palmyra  it  was 
not  of  particular  importance  to  translate  exactly  the  names  of  Roman  dignities,”  and  as  Zenobia 
is  called  in  an  inscription  2e/3 aarr],  or  Augusta ,  it  would  appear  that  this  title  was  given  her  as 
widow  of  a  2e/3no-rdy. 

2  We  shall  have  twenty-nine  Caesars  or  Augusti  murdered  in  less  than  twelve  years  if 
we  include  sons  of  Emperors  to  whom  their  fathers  gave  the  purple. 

3  IMP.  C.  TETRICVS  PIVS  AVG.  and  the  laurelled  head  of  the  Emperor.  On  the 
reverse:  VIRTVS  AVG.;  Tetricus,  in  a  military  costume,  standing;  at  his  feet  a  captive. 
(Gold  coin  in  the  British  Museum.  Cf.  De  Witte,  Revue  Numism.,  the  elder  Tetricus,  pi.  xl. 
No.  162.) 

4  At  least  he  was  so  considered ;  but  it  cannot  be  proved  that  he  was  of  that  illustrious 
family -of  Pisos  whom  Horace  calls  Pompilius  sanguis  ( Ars  poet.  292)  because  they  claimed 
descent  from  Numa.  Nor  is  it  even  certain  that  Piso  assumed  the  purple. 


256 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


COIN  OF  PAC  ATI  ANUS.1 


wholly  lost  in  pleasure,  while  the  Barbarians  were  overrunning  the 
provinces  at  their  will.  Under  stress  of  necessity,  patriotism  re¬ 
awakened  ;  and  since  nothing  could  be 
expected  from  Rome,  men  looked  to 
themselves  for  their  preservation.  The 
legions  formed  a  permanent  garrison  of 
the  provinces,  and  remained  very  long 
in  the  same  places ;  for  example,  the 
Third  Augustan  occupied  Numidia  for  three  centuries.  From  this 

resulted  intimate  relations 
between  the  army  and  the 
country.  The  soldier  mar¬ 
ried  there,  the  legion  was 
recruited  thence,  and  the 
troops  borrowed  the  manners 
and  beliefs  of  the  country  in 
which  they  lived.  We  have 
had  occasion  more  than  once 
to  show  that  the  differences 
between  the  armies  of  Gaul 
and  of  Syria  corresponded 
to  the  differences  between 
the  two  countries.  By  de¬ 
grees  these  multiplied  bonds 
had  made  the  legionaries, 
as  it  were,  the  representa¬ 
tives  of  those  whom  it  wras 
their  duty  to  protect,  and 
during  the  eclipse  of  the 
universal  Empire  the  provin¬ 
cial  interest  personified  itself 
in  provincial  emperors.  Almost  simultaneously,  Gaul,  Illyria,  Moesia, 
Pannonia,  Greece,  and  Thessaly  proclaimed  their  respective  gov¬ 
ernors  ;  and  the  provinces  were  so  much  in  sympathy  with  the 


YOUNG  ROMAN.2 


1  Coin  of  Pacatianus,- emperor  in  Pannonia  or  in  Ithaetia.  IMP.  TI.  CL.  MAR.  PACA- 
TIANVS  AVG.  and  the  radiate  head  of  the  provincial  Emperor.  On  the  reverse:  ROMAE 
AETERN.  AN[no]  MILL[esimo]  ET  PRIMO  (the  year  1001  of  Rome,  248  a.  d.);  in  the 
centre  Rome  seated.  (Silver  coin.) 

2  Young  Roman,  supposed  to  be  Saloninus.  Marble  of  the  Museum  of  the  Louvre. 


FROM  ACCESSION  OE  DEGIUS  TO  DEATH  OE  GALLIENUS.  257 


TRIUMPHAL  ARCH  OF  GALLIENUS  AT  ROME. 


soldiers  that  they  shared  their  fortunes.  In  a  province  where 
Gallienus  was  able  to  overthrow  one  of  his  rivals,  the  civilians 
suffered  as  much  as  the  soldiers;  the  legions  were  decimated,  but 
the  cities  also  were  filled  with  carnage  like  the  camps.1 

1  Treb.  Pollio,  Tyr.  trig.  8.  This  awakening  of  provincial  patriotism  is  manifested  by  two 
things,  —  many  cities  (in  Gaul,  for  example)  abandon  in  the  third  century  their  Roman  name  to 
VOL.  VII.  17 


258 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  2G8  a.  d. 


SALONINUS  CAESAR. 
(BRONZE  MEDALLION.) 


The  most  remarkable  of  these  Emperors  is  Postumus.1  He  was 
a  man  of  low  condition,2  but  of  great  courage,  and  extremely 
popular  in  the  Gallic  provinces  where  he  was  born,  and  of  which 
he  had  been  the  governor.  When  Gallienus 
quitted  the  country,  in  258,  he  left  his  son 
Saloninus  at  Cologne,  with  the  title  of 
Caesar,  under  the  care,  not  of  Postumus,  as 
would  have  seemed  most  natural,  but  under 
that  of  the  tribune  Silvanus ;  and  Postumus 
was  offended  at  this  mark  of  distrust.  On  one 
occasion,  when  the  latter  had  divided  among 
the  troops  a  rich  booty  recaptured  from 
the  Franks,  Sylvanus  claimed  the  spoils  as 
belonging  to  the  Caesar.  When  Postumus  made  known  this  order, 

the  soldiers,  rather  than 
give  back  what  they 
had  received,  tore  from 
their  standards  the  effi¬ 
gies  of  Gallienus  and 
Saloninus,  and  pro¬ 
claimed  their  general 
(258).  He  led  them  to 
Cologne,  obtained  the 
surrender,  after  a  long 
siege,  of  the  Caesar  and  his  adviser,  and  put  them  both  to  death.4 
The  nations  and  armies  of  the  Gallic  provinces,  Britain,  and  Spain 
took  oath  to  the  new  Augustus.5  This  was  not  the  establishment 


GOLD  COIN  OF  POSTUMUS.3 


take  their  own  ;  and  when  the  Emperors  dismember  a  government  to  form  new  provinces,  they 
usually  give  the  latter  the  limits  that  these  territories  had  in  the  time  of  their  independence. 

1  M.  Cassianius  Latinius  Postumus  (C.  I.  L.  vol.  ii.  No.  4,943). 

2  Obscurissime  ncitus  (Eutrop.  ix.  9). 

3  Coin  of  Postumus,  bearing  on  the  reverse  Eternal  Rome.  Gold  coin  in  an  open  setting 
and  loop.  Cf.  De  Witte,  op.  cit.  pi.  xvii.  No.  2G5. 

4  Eckliel  (vii.  391,  438)  places  the  surrender  of  Cologne  in  259.  The  Augustan 
History  ( Tyr .  trig.  3)  represents  Postumus  as  having  a  son  whom  Valerian  had  appointed 
tribune  of  the  Yocontii,  and  whom  his  father  had  taken  as  colleague ;  but  although  we  possess 
a  great  quantity  of  medals  of  Postumus,  no  one  of  them  gives  us  ground  to  believe  that  this 
son,  who  seems  to  have  been  a  person  of  only  literary  tastes,  was  made  Caesar  and  afterwards 
Augustus,  and  the  adoption  of  Victorinus  confirms  these  doubts  (Eckliel,  vii.  447,  and  De 
W  itte,  llevue  <ie.  numism.  vol.  iv.,  1859). 

5  Brequigny,  Hist,  de  Post.  p.  356,  in  vol.  xxx.  of  the  Mem.  de  l’ Acad,  des  .inscr.  This 
opinion  rests,  it  is  true,  upon  two  doubtful  readings  of  legends  on  coins  which  appear  to  belong 
to  another  period;  but  probability  favors  it  (Eckliel,  vii.  442). 


FROM  ACCESSION  OF  DECIUS  TO  DEATH  OF  GALLIENUS.  259 


of  a  Gallic,  Spanish,  or  British  empire  :  no  one  at  this  time 
thought  of  breaking  with  Rome ;  it  was  only  breaking  with  Gal- 
lienus,  and  for  protection  uniting  together  under  a  famous  soldier. 
Treves  was  his  capital.  Here  he  gathered  a  senate,  which  de¬ 
creed  him  all  the  titles  attributed  to  Emperors  on  the  banks 
of  the  Tiber;  but  upon  his  coins  —  the  sole  history  of  him  which 
we  have 1  —  he  preserved  the  image  of  the  Eternal  City  {Roma 
Aeterna). 

Under  the  purple  the  new  Emperor  still  kept  his  military 
tunic.  He  prevented  the  Alemanni  from  entering  Gaul,  drove  back 
the  Franks  by  constructing  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Rhine  strong 
forts  commanding  the  fords,  and  his  fleet  freed  the 
British  waters  from  Saxon  pirates.  On  one  of  his 
medals,  Neptuno  recluci  indicates  that  he  led  this 
expedition  in  person ; 2  another  attests  his  efforts  to 
free  from  pestilence  the  troops  and  the  provinces.3 
Successes  of  which  we  know  nothing  gave  him  those 
imperatorial  salutations  not  seen  on  coins  since  the 
time  of  Caracalla,  and  the  surname  Germanicus  Maximus .5  Coins 
of  the  year  262  give  him  these  titles  for  the  fifth  time ;  some 
of  them  represent  a  Victory  crowning  the  Gallic  Emperor,  and 
others  a  trophy  raised  between  two  prostrate  captives.  After  mak¬ 
ing  his  power  felt  among  the  Franks,  he  sought  to  draw  them 
into  an  alliance  ;  an  auxiliary  corps  which  he  recruited  among 
them  in  furnishing  him  with  soldiers,  gave  him  also  a  pledge  of 
the  fidelity  of  these  tribes. 

%j 

The  usurper  therefore  fulfilled  all  the  duties  of  a  legitimate 
ruler;  security  reigned  in  the  provinces,  and  commerce  reappeared 
on  the  roads  and  rivers.6  To  show  whence  came  this  securitv, 
Postumus  caused  the  Rhine  to  be  represented  tranquilly  leaning 
upon  his  urn,  with  the  symbols  of  peace,  an  anchor,  a  reed,  and 

1  M.  de  Witte  has  collected  them  in  a  learned  volume.  The  senate  of  Postumus,  lik  i 
the  Roman  Senate,  struck  bronze  coins  with  the  stamp  SC. 

2  Mionnet,  ii.  61,  68. 

3  Saltis  exercitus  (ibid.  64). 

4  NEPTVNO  REDVCI.  Reverse  of  a  coin  of  copper  alloy  of  Postumus. 

6  The  figure  V.  following  this  title  appears  to  Eckhel  (vii.  439)  to  signify  a  fifth 
victory  gained  over  the  Germans.  Another  coin,  confirming  this  one,  has  IMP.  V. 

6  This  is  probably  the  meaning  of  the  two  medals  which  have  the  unusual  legends :  Mer - 
curio  felici  and  Minerva  fautrix  (Eckhel,  vii.  445). 


260 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


following  with  his  gaze  the  peaceful  current  of  his  stream.  The 
legend  was  expressive,  —  Salus  provinciarum.1 2 

In  262  Postumus  celebrated  the  fifth  year  of 
his  reign.  Since  the  time  of  Augustus  it  had  been 
customary  to  make  a  solemn  observance  of  the  decen- 
nalia  only ;  but  at  the  period  of  which  we  write,  an  • 
Emperor  esteemed  himself  fortunate  to  have  lived 


THE  RHINE. - 


half  that  time,  and  five  years  was  the  grande  aevi  spatium  rarely 
exceeded  by  any. 

Another  distinguished  general,  Ingenuus,  had  been  made 
Emperor  by  the  troops  of  Pannonia  (258); 3 4  and  the  nations  of 
that  province  had  pronounced  with 
ardor  in  favor  of  the  man  who  had 
many  times  repulsed  or  driven  into  the 
Danube  the  Goths  and  Sarmatians. 

He  was,  however,  defeated  near  Mursa 
by  a  skilful  manoeuvre  of  one  of  the 


imperial  lieutenants,  Aureolus,  who 

with  a  furious  cavalry  charge  broke  the  enemy’s  line.  Ingenuus 
killed  himself,  or  caused  his  attendant  to  kill  him.  Pannonia 
was  deluged  with  blood ; 5  the  province  remembered  it,  and  we  shall 
soon  see  a  new  Emperor,  Regalianus,  made  here. 

For  the  moment  Gallienus,  conqueror  of  the  rebels  of  Pan¬ 
nonia,  and  also  of  the  Alemanni,  whom  he  had  just  now  driven 
out  of  Italy,  seemed  in  a  position  to  wage  successful  war  with 
Postumus;  but  bad  news  come  from  Asia:  Valerian  was  a  cap¬ 
tive,  and  Balista  had  induced  Macrianus6  to  assume  the  purple.  This 


1  The  bronzes  of  Postumus  are  very  defective ;  but  bis  gold  pieces  equal  the  finest  of  the 
preceding  Emperors,  and  bis  silver  coins  still  contain  a  little  pure  metal,  while  those  of  Gallienus 
have  none  whatever.  To  judge  by  the  pieces  found  in  collections  of  buried  money  of  this  date, 
it  appears  that  Gallic  coins  were  not  received  in  Italy,  nor  the  coins  of  Gallienus  in  Gaul 
(Mommsen,  1 list,  de  la  Mann.  rom.  iii.  124). 

2  The  Rhine  seated,  leaning  upon  an  urn  and  laying  one  hand  on  a  vessel.  Reverse  of 
a  copper  coin  of  Postumus,  with  the  legend  :  SALYS  PROVINCIARVM. 

3  Cf.  Fragm.  hist.  Grace,  iv.  194  (Didot).  It  is  possible  that  this  revolt  of  Ingenuus 
was  anterior  to  the  Alemannic  invasion  of  Italy. 

4  IMP.  C.  FYL.  MACRIANYS  P.  F.  AVG.  Radiate  head  of  the  Emperor.  On  the 
reverse  :  MARTI  PROBP YGXATORI  and  the  god  Mars.  Coin  of  copper  alloy. 

5  See  the  letter  of  Gallienus  to  Verianus  Celer  (Treb.  Pollio,  Ingen.). 

6  Fulvius  Macrianus.  See  in  Treb.  Pollio  ( Tyr .  trig.,  12)  the  curious  appeal  of  Balista 
to  Macrianus. 


FROM  ACCESSION  OF  DECIUS  TO  DEATH  OF  GALLIENUS.  261 


Macrianus,  a  soldier  of  fortune,  had  risen  from  the  lowest  ranks 
in  the  army  to  the  first  positions  of  the  state.  His  marriage  and 
the  liberality  of  Valerian,  who  treated  him  with 
confidence,  had  made  him  rich  enough  to  be  able 
out  of  his  private  fortune  to  pay  on  the  spot  the 
donativum  to  the  troops.  He  is  represented  by 
ecclesiastical  writers  as  having  employed  magical 
arts  to  induce  Valerian  to  undertake  the  great 
persecution  of  258.  The  Emperor  was  impelled 
thereto  by  reasons  really  no  more  valid,  but  seeming  to  him  of 
importance.  Pagan  authors,  on  their  part,  reproach  Macrianus 
with  having  urged  his  master  to  that  fatal  conference  whence  the 


GOLD  COIN  OF  THE 
YOUNGER 
MACRIANUS. 


QUIETUS. 

(medium  bronze.) 


Emperor  never  returned.  These  unauthorized 
accusations  are  not  worthy  of  notice.  More¬ 
over,  the  man  himself  is  not  important,  and 
his  reign  was  very  brief.  He  required,  as  a 
condition  of  accepting  the  Empire,  that  his 
two  sons,  the  younger  Macrianus  and  Quietus, 
should  be  made  August!.  Egypt  acknowledged 


him  (260  or  261). 

Through  the  energy  of  Odenathus  the  East  had  been  delivered 
from  the  Persians ;  but  it  was  needful  to  restore  tranquillity  to 
men’s  minds,  discipline  to  the  army,  and  a  sense  of  security  to 
the  population.  The  task  was  one  which  might  occupy  a  ruler 
for  many  years.  Macrianus  never  thought  of  attempting  it ; 
his  design  was  to  extend  his  power  rather  than  to  consolidate  it. 
Leaving  Quietus  and  Balista  in  Asia,  he  crossed  over  into  Europe 
with  his  other  son,  Macrianus,  and  thirty  thousand  men  to  over¬ 
throw  Gallienus.  He  sent  before  him  one  of  his  generals,  Piso, 
who  was  to  rid  him  of  Valens,  the  proconsul  of  Achaia,  a  man 
whose  talents  the  newly  made  Emperor  dreaded.  Valens,  feeling 
himself  menaced,  assumed  the  purple  in  Greece ;  it  is  said  that 
Piso  did  the  same  in  Thessaly,1  where  he  took  refuge.  These  two 
aspirants  had,  however,  but  few  troops,  and  probably  but  little 
money,  and  they  were  to  be  placed  between  the  two  immense 


1  The  eulogium  upon  Piso  pronounced  by  the  prince  of  the  Senate,  and  the  senatus-con- 
sultum  which  decreed  him  a  triumphal  statue  (Treb.  Pollio,  Tyr.  trig.  20),  prevent  us  from 
believing  that  Piso  assumed  the  purple. 


2G2 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


armies  of  Macrianus  and  Gallienus ;  disaffection  broke  out,  and  tlieir 
soldiers  killed  them.1 

Aureolus  had  been  rewarded  for  his  services  in  defeating 
Ingenuus  by  the  post  of  Master  of  the  Cavalry  and  the  govern¬ 
ment  of  the  Illyrian  provinces.  He  was  the  son  of  a  Dacian 
shepherd,  —  a  new  proof  that  the  highest  ranks  were  recruited 
from  a  very  low  grade.  Being  sent  to  arrest  the  Syrian  invasion, 
he  was  easily  successful ;  a  part  of  the  army  came  over  to  him, 
and  Macrianus  perished,  together  with  his  son.2  Thus  the  situation 

became  simpler. 

At  the  news  of  this  success  Odenathus 
besieged  Quietus,  the  second  son  of  Macrianus, 
in  Emesa,  and  put  him  to  death,  and  shortly 
after  this  caused  the  assassination  of  Balista,  the 
only  man  who  could  be  an  obstacle  to  him¬ 
self.3 4  The  Palmyrene  remained  sole  master  of 
the  Roman  East,  and  Gallienus  and  Postumus 

THE  TEMPLE  OF  EPHESUS.4 

divided  between  them  the  West. 

These  domestic  strifes  were  not  likely  to  arrest  the  incursions 
of  the  Goths  and  Sarmatians  in  Thrace  and  Asia.  On  the  coast 
of  Asia  Minor  these  Barbarians  burned  the  famous  temple  of  Ephe¬ 
sus,  which,  with  its  twenty-seven  columns  of  precious  marble,  each 
sixty  feet  high,  the  sculptures  of  Scopas,  and  the  gifts  of  kings  and 
nations  heaped  up  within  its  walls,  was  esteemed  one  of  the  won¬ 
ders  of  the  world.5  In  Moesia  the  Goths  took  Nicopolis,  which  had 
arrested  the  previous  invasion,  and  in  Macedon  they  besieged  Thes- 
salonica,  the  key  to  that  province.  Their  bands,  increased  by  escaped 
slaves,  many  of  whom  were  of  barbaric  origin,  went  as  far  as  Greece, 
where  they  found  small  plunder  and  many  mountains,  which 
rendered  resistance  easy ;  and  they  appear  to  have  suffered  a  defeat 

1  It  is  possible  that  Piso  was  killed  by  the  emissaries  or  by  the  troops  of  Valeris,  who 
assumed  the  surname  of  Thessalicus.  (Ibid.) 

2  In  the  ninth  year  of  the  reign  of  Gallienus ;  that  is  to  say,  before  the  29th  of  August,  262, 
probably  at  the  close  of  261. 

3  According  to  other  accounts,  Odenathus  spared  Balista,  who  lived  in  retirement  on  an 
estate  which  he  possessed  near  Daphne. 

4  E4>ECION.  The  statue  of  Diana  within  the  temple.  Reverse  of  large  bronze  of  Hadrian. 

5  The  temple  was  425  feet  long,  and  220  wide  (Pliny,  Hist.  nat.  xxxvi.  21).  The  Roman 
foot  was  11.655  inches.  [Cf.  now  the  remarkable  explorations  and  restoration  of  this  temple  in 
Mr.  Wood’s  Ephesus. — Ed.] 


FROM  ACCESSION  OF  DECIUS  TO  DEATH  OF  GALLIENUS.  2G3 


there.1  Jordanes  speaks  of  the  childish  delight  of  the  Goths  when 
on  their  return  they  found  themselves  at  the  foot  of  the  Balkans, 
near  the  hot  springs  of  Anchialos  (2G2-263).2 

Byzantium,  the  bulwark  of  the  Empire  in  these  regions,  had  a  nu¬ 
merous  garrison,  which,  probably  on  account  of  some  delay  in  receiv¬ 
ing  pay,  revolted,  and  pillaged  the  city.  Gallienus 
hastened  thither,  and,  as  his  custom  was,  showed  him¬ 
self  very  severe  in  the  punishment  which  he  inflicted. 

He  remained  there  some  months  to  intimidate  the 
Barbarians,  who  had  reappeared  in  Cappadocia,  and 
to  restore  these  provinces  to  order,  rebuilding  the  reverse  of  a  coin 

r  ,.n  ..  P  P  ...  tt  t  OF  GALLIENUS.3 

lortincations  ot  many  of  the  cities.  He  also  car¬ 
ried  on  negotiations  with  Odenatlius,  which  resulted  in  his  accept¬ 
ing  the  Arab  chief  as  his  colleague  in  the  Empire  (264).  On  his 
return  to  Rome  he  celebrated,  with  all  the  magnifi¬ 
cence  that  the  precarious  state  of  the  finances  permit¬ 
ted,  the  tenth  year  of  his  unfortunate  reign. 

In  the  spring  of  264  Gallienus  at  last  prepared  to- 
avenge  his  son  and  recover  the  Gallic  provinces.4  It 
coin  of  copper  is  said 6  that  he  proposed  to  Postumus  to  decide  their 

ALLOY.®  **"  A 

quarrel  by  single  combat ;  to  which  the  Gallic  Em¬ 
peror  replied  that  he  was  not  a  gladiator.  Aureolus  commanded 
the  troops  of  Gallienus ;  he  either  would  not  or  could  not  take 
advantage  of  an  important  victory  to  overwhelm  Postumus,  and 
the  war  was  protracted.  Notwithstanding  the  defection  of  a  gen¬ 
eral  of  Victorinus,7  the  Italian  Caesar  —  who  with  several  legions 
went  over  to  the  side  of  the  Gallic  Caesar,  and  was  by  the  latter 
associated  with  himself  in  the  imperial  power  (265)  8  —  Postumus 


1  Treb.  Pollio,  Gall.  5. 

2  The  aquae  calidae  were  fifteen  miles  to  the  north  of  this  city,  which  stood  on  the  shore 
of  the  Black  Sea,  and  they  had  a  great  reputation,  inter  reliqua  totius  mundi  thermorum 
innumerabilium  loca  omnino  praecipue  ad  sanitatem  infirmorum  efficacissimae  (Jordanes,  20). 

3  LEG.  XXX.  VLP[ia]  VI  P  [sextum  pia]  VI  F  [sextum  fidelis].  Neptune  standing 
(copper  alloy). 

4  Eckliel  (vii.  238)  asserts  that  there  had  been  hostilities  between  Gallienus  and  Pos¬ 
tumus  since  the  year  260. 

8  Fragm.  hist.  Graec.  iv.  194. 

6  Victorinus  wearing  the  radiate  crown. 

7  At  least  the  coins  of  Victorinus  bear  the  names  of  legions  that  are  known  to  have  been 
in  the  army  of  Gallienus.  (Cf.  Eekhel,  vii.  402,  451.) 

-  8  This  is  the  well-authorizea  opinion  of  M.  de  Witte,  Revue  de  num.,  new  series,  vol.  vi. 


1861. 


2G4 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  2G8  a.  d. 


was  obliged  to  take  refuge  in  a  fortified  town,  where  the  impe¬ 
rial  troops  besieged  him.  Gallienus  was  wounded  with  an  arrow 

during  the  siege  ;  and 
his  wound,  together 
with  the  unpromis¬ 
ing  aspect  of  the 
war,  decided  him  to 
abandon  the  task  lie 
had  undertaken.  He 
returned  into  Italy, 
leaving  A  u  r  e  o  1  u  s 
to  guard  the  Alpine 

VICTORINUS  CROWNED  WITII  REVERSE  OF  A  GOLD  MEDAL-  paSSeS,  -  a  preCaU" 

•  LAUREL.1  LION  OF  VICTORINUS.'2  . 

tion  which  proves  that. 

the  expedition  into  Gaul  had  not  ended  well. 

Postumus,  however,  half  victorious,  half  vanquished,  lost  in 
this  war  the  prestige  he  had  obtained  by  his  suc¬ 
cessful  encounters  with  the  Barbarians.  A  compet¬ 
itor,  Laelianus,3 4  appeared  against  him.  He  defeated 
this  general ;  but  having  refused  his  troops  the  pil¬ 
lage  of  Mayence,  the  principal  seat  of  the  rebellion, 
a  tumult  broke  out,  in  which  he  and  his  son  were 
killed  (267).  The  Germans  took  advantage  of  these  disturbances 
to  recommence  their  predatory  expeditions,  and  burned  several  Gallic 
cities.  Laelianus,  respited  by  the  death  of  Postumus,  obtained 
some  advantages  over  them,  —  attested  by  his  coins,5  —  and  rebuilt 
the  forts  which  they  had  destroyed  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Rhine ; 
but  the  soldiers,  offended  by  the  labors  which  he  required  of  them, 
murdered  him. 

Victorinus  had  doubtless  instigated  this  tragedy,  which  relieved 
him  from  a  competitor ;  but  another  immediately  came  forward, 
—  Marius,  formerly  a  blacksmith.  The  Augustan  History  assigns  to 


LAELIANUS.4 


1  Gold  medallion  in  an  open  setting.  (Collection  of  the  Hague  ;  J.  de  Witte,  Recherches, 
etc.,  pi.  xxvi.  No.  24.) 

2  INDVLGENTIA  AVG[usta].  The  Emperor,  standing,  assisting  a  kneeling  figure 
to  rise. 

8  Revue  de  num.  vol.  iv.  1859. 

4  Laelianus  crowned  with  laurel.  (Gold  Coin.) 

6  Cohen,  v.  60.  One  coin  of  Laelianus  represents  Spain,  where  he  certainly  never  was 
in  command,  but  he  included  it  in  his  government  (Eckhel,  vii.  449). 


FROM  ACCESSION  OF  DECIUS  TO  DEATH  OF  GALLIENUS.  265 


COIN  OF  MARIUS.1 


this  person  only  three  days’  reign,  in  order  to  say  that  on  the  first 
day  he  was  made  emperor,  on  the  second  he  reigned,  and  on  the 

third  he  was  dethroned.  It  is  probable, 
however,  that  the  time  was  somewhat 
longer;  an  old  comrade,  whose  hand  he 
had  refused  to  touch,  struck  him  with  a 
sword  which,  as  the  story  went,  they  had 
forged  together.2 

The  former  colleague  of  Postumus,  Victorinus,3  had  remained 
during  these  catastrophes  the 
emperor  of  the  Gallic  prov¬ 
inces.  He  was  born  of  a 
rich  family,  and  one  of  his 
kindred,  Tetricus,  governed 
Aquitaine.'  These  ties  of 
relationship  consolidated  his 
power,  making  him  a  national 
ruler  in  the  eyes  of  the 
Gauls ;  and  lie  appeared  so 
formidable  to  Gallienus  that 
the  latter,  far  from  attack¬ 
ing  him  in  Gaul,  feared  lest 
he  should  come  to  seek  the 
empire  of  Italy  as  well. 

But  habits  of  the  grossest 
debauchery  tarnished  the 
merits  of  Victorinus,  and 
he  was  assassinated  at  Cologne  by  one  of  his  own  officers  whose 
wife  he  had  outraged  (268). 5 

The  true  ruler  during  this  reign  had  been  Victorina,  the 
Emperor’s  mother,  a  woman  of  masculine  courage,  the  Zenobia  of 


THE  EMPEROR  MARIUS.4 


1  IMP.  C.  MARI  VS  AVG.,  around  the  radiate  head  of  the  Gallic  Emperor.  On  the 
reverse,  SAEC  [uli]  FELICITAS,  and  Felicity  standing  (coin  of  copper  alloy). 

2  We  have  coins  and  inscriptions  of  his  which  compel  us  to  believe  that  his  reign  was  not 
so  short.  De  Boze  ( Mem .  de  Vacad.  xxvi.  512)  gives  him  a  reign  of  four  or  five  months, — 
from  September  or  October,  267,  to  January  or  February,  268. 

3  Marcus  Piavonius  Victorinus  (Or.-Henzen,  No.  5,548;  Eckhel,  vii.  450). 

4  Engraved  stone  of  the  Cabinet  de  France  (20  millim.  by  17),  No.  2,105  of  the  Catalogue. 

5  In  the  beginning  of  this  year,  and  again  in  March,  the  Senate  begs  Claudius  to  overthrow 
Tetricus.  Coins  of  Victorinus  have  lately  been  found  in  England. 


266 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


the  West,  who  by  her  largesses  exercised  great  influence  over  the 
army.  The  soldiers  called  her  the  “  mother  of  the  camps,”  and  a 

medal  —  the  authenticity 
’*  of  which,  however,  is 

doubtful  —  gives  her  the 
imperial  title.  If  she  did 
not  take  this  title,  she  at 
least  disposed  of  it,  causing 
the  army  to  acknowledge 
as  emperor  Tetricus,  her 
kinsman,* 1 2  a  prudent  man 
averse  to  power,  and  only 
anxious  to  keep  away  from 
the  camps,  where  rulers 
were  made  and  unmade 
quickly.  He  estab- 


pi 


:■  L’D  'EX'BIpp 
OBDiexk-ivuiyi^i' 

feTCWSHNOCOS’i 


£ 


j£ 


>  -rf?  -TT 


-  Or 

* 

iZi-xr 


so 

lished  himself  at  Bor¬ 
deaux  under  the  protection 
of  the  goddess  Tutela ;  and 

we  leave  him  there  philo¬ 
sophically  awaiting  Aure- 
lian  and  the  termination 
of  an  imperial  power  which 
he  had  not  desired. 

A  Dacian,  Regalianus, 
believed  to  be  a  descend¬ 
ant  of  the  famous  Decebalus,  had  the  government  of  Pannonia  and 
Moesia.  He  had  shown  himself  an  able  general,  and  could  boast  of 
several  victories  over  the  Sarmatians.  This  was  enough  to  determine 
both  soldiers  and  provincials  to  make  emperor  a  man  who  gave  to  the 
former  booty,  and  to  the  latter  security,  especially  while  the  memory 
of  the  cruelties  of  Gallienus  in  that  province  were  still  fresh  in  the 
minds  of  all.  Regalianus  was  therefore  invested  with  the  purple. 


ALTAR  OF  TUTELA  FOUND  AT  BORDEAUX.2 


1  C.  Pius  Esuvius  Tetricus  (Borghesi,  vol.  vii.  p.  430,  note  4).  He  was  proclaimed  at 
Bordeaux  before  March,  268.  De  Witte,  Revue  de  numism.,  vol.  vi.  1861,  and  Recherclies  sur 
les  empereurs  qui  ont  regne  dans  Jes  Guides  au  troisieme  siecle. 

2  This  pedestal  dout  tless  bore  a  statue  of  Tutela,  —  the  personified  protecting  power  of  the 
gods,  a  divinity  much  honored  at  Bordeaux.  The  inscription  is  of  the  year  224.  Cf.  Ch. 
Robert,  Culte  de  Tutela ,  in  the  Memo  ires  de  la  Soc.  arch,  de  Bordeaux. 


FROM  ACCESSION  OF  DECIUS  TO  DEATH  OF  GALLIENUS.  267 


This  was  the  establishment  of  a  Pannonian  empire,  after  the  man¬ 
ner  in  which  the  empires  of  Gaul  and  of  the  East  had  been  estab¬ 
lished,  and  for  the  same  reasons ;  namely,  the  defence  of  the  terri¬ 
tory  committed  to  the  worthiest,  because 
the  official  Emperor  failed  to  make  it 
secure.  Regalianus  came  to  a  violent 
end,  —  according  to  some,  in  a  revolt 
among  his  own  people;1 2  according  to 
others,  by  an  attack  from  Gallienus. 

Seeing  the  Empire  thus  parcelled  out,  there  was  no  man  too 
insignificant  to  desire  to  have  his  share.  Of  Antoninus,  Memor. 
and  Cecrops,  we  know  only  the  names ;  of  Satu minus  we  have 
only  this  saying  to  his  soldiers :  “  Comrades,  you  lose  a  good  general, 
and  you  make  a  worthless  emperor ;  ”  of  Celsus,  this  anecdote,  that 
his  partisans  not  finding  the  purple  mantle  which  was  indispensable 
for  the  consecration  of  an  emperor,  threw  over 
him  the  robe  of  the  dea  caelestis  of  Carthage. 

The  great  goddess  wras  scandalized,  no  doubt,  at 
this  impiety,  for  Celsus  was  killed  almost  imme¬ 
diately.  His  body  was  thrown  to  the  dogs, 
which  devoured  it,  and  his  effigy  nailed  to  the 
cross  on  which  criminals  suffered,  that  the  in¬ 
famy  of  this  unfortunate  man,  who  had  reigned 
seven  days,  might  be  made  eternal. 

Aemilianus,  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  enjoyed  his  ephemeral 
dignity  a  little  while  longer,  until  Gallienus,  being  in  need  of  the 
Egyptian  wheat,  sent  against  him  Tlieodotus,  whose  services  and 
fidelity  had  already  been  proved  in  Gaul.  Aemilianus  was  defeated 
and  taken  prisoner,  and  soon  after  was  strangled  in  his  dungeon. 
In  the  number  of  usurpers  is  also  placed  one  Trebellianus,  a  chief 
of  those  Isaurian  mountaineers  whom  Rome  had  never  civilized  or 
disciplined.  A  bandit  by  trade,  a  pirate,  he  took  advantage  of  the 
universal  disorganization  to  extend  his  predatory  expeditions.  A 
brother  of  Tlieodotus  defeated  and  killed  him.  Such  is  the  perpet- 


AEMILIANTTS  LAURELLED. 
(LARGE  BRONZE.) 


1  Treb.  Pollio,  Tyr.  trig.  10. 

2  IMP.  C.  P.  C.  REGALIANVS  AYG.;  radiate  head  of  Regalianus.  On  the  reverse : 
LTBER[a]L[it]AS  AYG. ;  Liberty  standing,  holding  a  freedman’s  cap  and  a  sceptre.  (Silver 
Goin.) 


268 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


ually  recurring  termination  of  all  these  narratives.  Local  patriotism 
was  keen  enough  for  the  desire  to  prevail  of  having  a  national 
chief ;  it  was  not  persevering  enough  long  to  maintain  these 

provincial  Emperors,  who, 
owing  their  elevation  to 
disorder  and  public  calam¬ 
ity,  became  in  their  turn 
its  victims.  Revolts  con¬ 
tinued  because  they  had 
begun,  and  men  killed  be¬ 
cause  they  had  killed. 

One  only  of  these 
usurpers  so  quickly  over¬ 
thrown  interests  us,  —  the 
king  of  Palmyra,  founder 
of  a  half  Arab  state,  who, 

if  he  had  been  able  to  es- 

* 

tablish  his  authority,  would 
have  changed  the  face  of 
the  East.  For  this  it  was 
needful  that  Odenatlius 
should  live ;  but,  like  all 
the  others,  he  was  assassi¬ 
nated.  We  shall  again 
refer  to  this  murder  and 

AEMILIANUS  BEFORE  HIS  ACCESSION  (PROBABLE).1  tO  tlllS  kingdom  in  the 

history  of  Aurelian. 

What  was  Gallienus  doing  in  the  midst  of  these  catastrophes  ? 
One  of  the  old  authors  loads  him  with  maledictions ; 2  another 
represents  him  laboring  diligently  to  avert  the  public  misfortunes.3 
When  news  came  of  the  defection  of  the  Gauls  and  of  Egypt, 
Pollio  represents  him  as  saying :  u  Can  we  not  live,  then,  without 
Egyptian  linen  and  tapestry?”  At  the  same  time,  he  was  not 


1  Bust  of  tlie  Museum  of  Lyons  (Comarmond,  Descr.  des  Antiques ,  etc.,  pi.  9,  No.  152). 

2  Treb.  Pollio,  in  the  Augustan  Histopy.  This  author  wrote  in  the  time  of  the  Caesar 
Constant ius,  a  descendant  of  Claudius  II.  ( Gall .  14),  and  Claudius  caused  the  murder  of 
Gallienus  ;  Pollio  therefore  regarded  Gallienus  as  a  criminal. 

*  Zosimus,  i.  30-45. 


FROM  ACCESSION  OF  DECIUS  TO  DEATH  OF  GALLIENUS.  269 


destitute  of  courage ;  he  loved  poetry,  eloquence,  the  arts,  and  he 
was  on  the  point  of  giving  Plotinus,  at  the  request  of  the  Empress 
Salonina,  a  district  in  Campania  (to  be  called  Platonopolis),  that 
the  philosopher  might  try  the  experiment  of  Plato’s  Republic.  But 
of  what  value  are  these  mental  endowments,  —  the  splendid  and 
beautiful  adornment  of  more  prosperous  reigns  ?  At  such  a  time 
as  this  the  Empire  needed,  not  a  maker  of  Greek  and  Latin 
verses,  but  a  soldier.  Gallienus  might  have  reigned  like  Au- 
relian,  Probus,  and  Diocletian.  If  he  did  not  do  this,  it  was 
because  of  his  incapacity,  and  we  may  leave  him  with  his  poor 
reputation. 

In  267  Aureolus,  once  a  Dacian  shepherd,1  but  a  brave 
soldier,  the  conqueror  of  Macrianus  in  Thrace,  and  the  adversary 
of  Postumus  in  Gaul,  was  left  to  guard  with  an  army  the  passes 
of  the  Western  Alps  against  Victorinus,  while  Gallienus  went  to 
drive  out  of  Illyria  the  Barbarians  who  had  unexpectedly  appeared 
there.  These  invaders  came  from  afar ;  from  the  Sea  of  Azof  five 
hundred  vessels  had  set  out,  in  which  no  strength  was  wasted, 
for  they  carried  a  multitude  of  warriors,2  who  at  sea  were  rowers, 
and  on  land  were  fighting-men.  They  crossed  the  Bosphorus,  the 
Propontis,  and  the  Hellespont,  killing  and  pillaging.  When  Mithri- 
dates  besieged  Cyzicus,  four  centuries  earlier,  that  city  had  three 
arsenals  filled  with  weapons,  grain,  machines  of  war,  and  in  its 
harbor  were  two  hundred  galleys.  Notwithstanding  the  many  formi¬ 
dable  warnings  given  these  populations  during  the  last  thirty  years, 
the  Goths  found  no  preparations  for  defence.  They  pillaged  the 
city,  and  Lemnos  and  Scyros  shared  the  same  fate.  The  Pelopon¬ 
nesus  and  Epirus  were  ravaged,  and  one  of  their  bands  surprised 
Athens,  whence  the  population  fled.  A  monk  of  the  twelfth  century 
relates  that  the  Goths,  having  collected  in  a  heap  all  the  books 
found  in  the  city,  were  about  to  give  to  the  flames  these  products 
of  a  civilization  which  they  despised,  when  one  of  their  chiefs  de¬ 
terred  them.  “  Let  us  leave  to  the  Greeks,”  he  said,  “  these  books, 
which  render  them  so  effeminate  and  unwarlike.”  Montaigne3 

1  Zonaras,  xii.  24. 

2  Gibbon  says  fifteen  thousand,  taking  for  authority  a  text  of  Strabo,  which  allows  from 
twenty-five  to  thirty  men  as  a  crew  for  the  vessels  of  the  Euxine.  But  we  have  no  proof  that, 
three  centuries  later  than  Strabo,  these  vessels  were  no  larger. 

3  Essais,  i.  24.  It  is  a  reminiscence  of  the  words  quoted  by  Cicero  in  the  Dr  Senertute. 
1 3.  in  speaking  of  the  doctrines  of  Epicurus. 


270 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


repeats  this  story,  and  Rousseau  quotes  it  after  him.  An  Athe¬ 
nian  proved  to  them,  however,  that  a  man  could  be  both  a 
scholar  and  a  soldier.  Cleodemos,  says  Zonaras,  rallied  the  fu¬ 
gitives,  armed  a  few  vessels,  and  killed  a  great  number  of 
marauders ;  the  rest  fled.1  Zonaras  is  wrong  as  to  the  author 
of  this  bold  stroke :  the  last  of  the  Athenian  heroes  was  the 
historian  Dexippos.  The  city  having  been  taken  by  surprise, 
two  thousand  Athenians  escaped  to  a  wooded  hill,  and  there 
resisted  all  attacks.  Other  Greeks  gathered  in  this  “  camp  of 
refuge;”  successful  sorties  were  made,  and  some  imperial  galleys, 
coming  up,  destroyed  the  vessels  of  the  Barbarians.  The  latter 
were  not  dismayed  by  this  disaster,  but  made  their  way  overland 
to  their  companions  who  were  pillaging  the  Peloponnesus  and 
Boeotia ;  they  entered  Acarnania  by  way  of  Epirus,  and  formed  the 
bold  design  of  returning  home  through  Illyricum.  This  was  the 
invasion  which  Gallienus  set  out  to  repel.  He  destroyed  some  of 
their  bands,  bought  over  others,  and  made  one  of  their  chiefs 
consul.  We  are  tempted  to  believe  that  he  put  the  consular 
toga  upon  the  shoulders  of  this  Herulan  with  the  same  feelings 
that  we  experience  in  giving  a  plumed  hat  to  some  negro  king 
on  the  African  coast.  But  this  son-in-law  of  the  Marcomanni,  so 
much  under  the  influence  of  Pipa,  his  young  barbaric  wife,2  chose 
to  give  the  ceremony  all  possible  official  grandeur;  and  the  fact 
is  more  important  than  it  at  first  appears.  We  have  seen  already 
how  the  Barbarians,  admitted  into  the  auxiliary  troops,  and  then 
made  citizens,  filled  the  legions.  We  now  see  them  pass,  with¬ 
out  change,  from  Barbarism  to  the  consulship.  The  invasion 
was  going  on  in  the  lower  ranks,  it  will  be  seen  also  in  the 
upper ; 3  and  in  consequence  of  this  slow  but  continuous  infiltration 
it  was  really  completed  on  the  day  when  it  appears  to  begin,  — 
with  the  furious  attack  of  405.  Thus  for  two  centuries  all 
things  continued  to  grow  worse  in  this  Empire,  still  Roman  on 
the  surface,  but  in  reality  more  and  more  permeated  every  day 
with  Germanic  elements.4 

1  Zonaras,  xii.  26. 

2  .  .  .  Quam  is  perdite  dilexerit.  To  please  her  he  covered  his  black  locks  with  gold 
powder,  and  would  have  his  friends  do  the  same.  Gallienus  cum  suis  semper  Jlavo  crinem 
condit  (Treb.  Pollio,  Salon.  Gall.  3). 

3  See,  p.  196,  what  lieutenants  Valerian  gave  to  Aurelian. 

4  A  medal  of  this  year  commemorates  a  naval  victory  over  the  Goths,  who,  returning  from 


FROM  ACCESSION  OF  DECIUS  TO  DEATH  OF  GALLIENUS.  271 


While  Gallienus  was  fighting  in  Illyria,  Aureolus  found  the 
occasion  propitious  to  stir  up  revolt  in  Italy  and  seize  upon  Rome. 
The  Emperor  defeated  him  at  Pontirolo  (Pons  Aureoli),  upon  the 
Adda,  and  held  him  besieged  in  Milan.  But  in  the  imperial  camp, 
Aurelian,  Heraclius,  and  Claudius,  the  most  important  generals 
in  the  army,  conspired  against  the  violent  and  feeble  ruler  under 
whom  the  Empire  had  fallen  so  low.  One  day,  when  at  the  news 
of  a  sortie  attempted  by  Aureolus,  Gallienus  had  flung  himself 
unarmed  upon  a  horse,  a  conspirator  pierced  him  with  an  arrow 
(March  22,  268).  His  brother  Yalerianus  was  also  killed;  this 
young  man  was  of  amiable  character  and  brilliant  talents,  and 
dying  at  an  age  when  many  hopes  centred  in  him,  left  a  much¬ 
loved  memory.  Claudius  had  ordered  his  death  for  reasons  of 
state ;  but  he  erected  to  him  a  monument,  on  which  these  words 
were  engraved,  wherein  we  seem  to  read  a  half-stifled  regret : 
Valerianus,  imperator.1 

We  have  had  occasion  to  remark  that  the  entire  defence 
in  this  reign  stops  at  the  Danube  and  the  Rhine :  this  signifies 
that  the  Decumatian  lands  and  Dacia,  where  the  early  Empire  kept 
Barbarism  in  check,  were  lost.2  Nor  were  the  Roman  troops  any 
longer  able  to  guard  the  line  of  the  two  rivers,  which  armed  bands 
incessantly  crossed  in  the  intervals  of  the  great  invasions,  so  that 
disquietude  prevailed  everywhere.  It  was  a  condition  similar  to 
that  of  France  at  the  time  of  the  Norman  incursions.  Conse¬ 
quently  (as  later  was  done  in  the  beginning  of  feudal  times,  and 
for  the  same  reasons)  the  provinces  were  covered  with  fortified 
castles,  and  the  walls  of  cities  were  made  strong  again.  Gallienus 
rebuilt  those  of  Verona,  the  gate  of  Italy,3  and  employed  two 


Asia  laden  with  spoils,  were  scattered  by  a  tempest  upon  the  Euxine,  and  later  by  a  Roman 
flotilla  (Eckliel,  vii.  394,  and  Treb.  Pollio,  Gall.  12). 

1  Treb.  Pollio,  Valeriani  duo ,  8.  He  was  the  son  of  Valerian’s  second  wife.  Eckhel 
(vii.  427-435)  believes  that  he  was  neither  Caesar  nor  Augustus,  notwithstanding  the 
positive  assertion  of  Trebellius  Pollio.  The  word  imperator  would  be  then  merely  the  military 
title ;  but  this  title  had  for  many  years  been  given  only  to  sovereigns.  Zonaras  says  that 
a  second  son  of  Gallienus  was  put  to  death  by  order  of  the  Senate. 

2  Aur.  Victor,  Eutropius,  and  Orosius  (vii.  22)  place  the  loss  of  Dacia  in  this  reign.  The 
series  of  coins  of  Odessus  (near  Varna),  which  begin  with  Trajan  and  end  with  Salonina,  the 
wife  of  Gallienus,  prove  that  this  part  of  Moesia  (where  the  Goths  had  destroyed  Istria)  was  in 
process  of  being  detached  from  the  Empire. 

8  Accordingly  Verona  took  his  name  :  Colonia  Augusta  Verona  Nova  Gallieniana ;  inscrip¬ 
tion  over  the  gate  of  Verona,  now  called  de'  Borsari  (C.  I.  L.  v.  3,329). 


272 


MILITARY  ANARCHY,  235  TO  268  a.  d. 


Byzantine  engineers  to  fortify  the  towns  of  Moesia ; 1  Claudius  II. 
later  reconstructed  the  walls  of  Nicaea ; 2  Aurelian  and  Probus 
undoubtedly  continued  these  defensive  works ;  and  as  the  Bar¬ 
barians  penetrated  far  into  the  provinces,  the  cities  of  the  interior, 
as  well  as  those  of  the  frontiers,  surrounded  themselves  with 
ramparts.3  The  Emperors  of  the  first  two  centuries  of  the 
Christian  era  had  not  required  so  much  precaution,  for  the  reason 
that  they  had  made  the  Empire  one  great  city,  peaceful  and 
industrious,  needing  to  be  protected  by  outposts  only,  which  good 
discipline  rendered  perfectly  inaccessible.  The  two  periods  are 
characterized  by  their  monuments :  in  one,  the  works  of  peace, 
strength,  and  security ;  in  the  other,  the  works  of  war,  of  weak¬ 
ness  and  alarm. 

1  Treb.  Pollio,  Gall.  13  :  .  .  .  Instaurandis  urbibus  muniendisque  praefecit.  One  of  these 
engineers  was  named  Athenaeus,  and  we  have  from  an  author  of  this  name,  in  the  Mathematici 
veteres,  1693,  a  treatise  on  machines  of  war. 

2  Letronne,  Journal  des  Savants,  1827. 

3  See  above,  p.  219. 


THIRTEENTH  PERIOD. 


THE  ILLYRIAN  EMPERORS :  THE  EMPIRE  STRENGTHENED. 


CHAPTER  XCVII. 
CLAUDIUS  AND  AURELIAN  (268-275  A.D.). 


I.  —  Claudius  II.  (268-270);  The  Fiest  Invasion  eepulsed. 

THE  conspirators  of  the  camp  of  Milan  were  very  different  men 
from  the  praetorians  who  had  formerly  put  the  Empire  up  to 
auction.  They  were  brave  soldiers,  determined  to  make  an  end  to 
the  disgrace  of  Rome  by  the  re-establishment  of  discipline  and  a  vigor¬ 
ous  prosecution  of  the  war  against  the  Barbarians.  They  selected  for 
emperor  that  one  of  their  comrades  who  seemed  to  be  the  most  expe¬ 
rienced  and  who  was  the  most  conspicuous,  Claudius  the  Dalmatian.1 
The  flatterers  of  Constantius  Chlorus,  his  grand-nephew,  gave  Clau¬ 
dius  for  ancestor  the  Trojan  Dardanus  ;  but  he  had  made  his  own 
rank.  Decius  had  declared  him  indispensable  to  the  state  ;  Valerian 
held  him  in  high  esteem,  and  Gallienus  dreaded  his  judgment. 

Under  Valerian,  Claudius  had  held  the  government  of  Illyricum 
and  the  command  of  the  troops  posted  from  the  Alps  to  the 
Euxine,  with  the  salary  of  a  prefect  of  Egypt,  the  honors  of  the 


1  Marcus  Aurelius  Claudius.  Trebellius  Pollio  ( In  Claudio,  ?)  gives  him  the  nomen  gen. 
tilicium  of  Flavius,  which  passed  to  all  his  posterity.  Zosimus  and  Zonaras  say  that  he  was  a 
member  of  the  conspiracy,  —  and  this  is  doubtless  the  fact,  although  Julian,  his  kinsman,  denies 
it.  He  had  two  brothers,  Quintillus,  of  whom  we  shall  speak  later,  and  Crispus,  whose  daugh¬ 
ter  Claudia,  married  to  Eutropius,  was  the  mother  of  Constantius  Chlorus. 

18 


VOL.  VII. 


274  ILLYRIAN  EMPERORS:  THE  EMPIRE  STRENGTHENED. 


proconsul  of  Africa,  and  a  suite  as  numerous  as  that  of  the 
Emperor,1  —  in  which  we  see  that  the  luxury  of  Oriental  courts  had 
invaded  the  court  of  Rome,  transforming,  even  in  these  times 
of  disaster,  the  simple  comitatus  of  the  early  proconsuls  into  a 
royal  suite  ruinous  to  the  public  finances.  The  weakness  of  Gallienus 
exasperated  Claudius  ;  something  of  this  came  to  the  Emperor’s  ears, 
who  made  haste  to  write  to  one  of  his  officers  a  deprecatory  letter, 

wherein  is  revealed  the  miserable  con¬ 
dition  of  these  Augusti,  who  knew 
neither  how  to  command  nor  how  to 
make  themselves  obeyed  :  — 

“  I  learn  with  the  deepest  regret 
by  your  report  that  Claudius,  our  kins¬ 
man  and  friend,  is  greatly  offended 
with  me  on  account  of  rumors  —  mostly 
untrue  —  which  have  been  brought  him. 
I  beg  you,  my  dear  Venustus,  if  you 
will  do  me  a  service,  to  employ  Gratus 

GOLD  BRACELET.2  ,  TT  .  .  ,  .  x 

and  Herennianus  to  appease  him.  Hut 
let  it  all  be  done  secretly,  lest  the  Dacian  soldiers,  already  dis¬ 
contented,  should  proceed  to  some  dangerous  extremity.  I  send  him 
presents.  Persuade  him  to  receive  them  courteously  ;  but  let  him 
not  suspect  that  I  know  his  sentiments  towards  me,  for  if  he 
believed  me  to  have  cause  of  resentment  against  him,  he  might  take 
violent  action.”  3 

1  Salarii  quantum  habet  Aegypti  praefectura,  tantum  vestium  quantum  proconsulate  Africano 
detulimus,  tantum  argenti  quantum  accipit  curator  lllyrici  (Treb.  Pollio,  Claud.  15). 

2  Gold  bracelet  adorned  with  a  coin  of  Claudius  Gotliicus.  (Cabinet  of  Vienna.)  Cf.  Ar- 
neth,  Gold  und  Silb.  pi.  vi.  11.  This  bracelet  (about  twice  the  size  of  the  figure)  bears  four 
coins  enchased,  —  Marcus  Aurelius,  Caracalla,  Gordian  III.,  and  Claudius  II.,  —  and  proves, 
like  the  necklace  found  at  Naix  (see  frontispiece  of  Sect.  I.  of  this  volume)  and  many  aurei 
which  we  have  already  given,  the  taste  of  the  Romans  for  jewels  of  this  kind. 

3  These  gifts,  which  the  Emperor  enumerates  in  his  letter,  were  as  follows:  “  Two  cups  of 
three  pounds  weight,  adorned  with  precious  stones ;  two  gold  cups  of  three  pounds,  enriched 
with  gems ;  a  basin  of  chased  silver  of  twenty  pounds ;  a  silver  dish  with  chasing  of  vine-leaves 
of  thirty  pounds  ;  another  great  silver  dish,  with  ivy-leaves,  of  twenty-three  pounds ;  a  silver 
basin  of  twenty  pounds  weight,  whereon  is  engraved  a  fish;  two  silver  pitchers  inlaid  with  gold 
of  six  pounds  weight,  and  some  small  silver  vases,  weighing  collectively  twenty-five  pounds ; 
ten  Egyptian  cups  of  divers  workmanship;  two  cloaks  of  brilliant  color  with  purple  borders; 
sixteen  garments  of  various  kinds  ;  a  white  tunic,  half  silk  ;  a  linen  garment,  with  silk  bands 
embroidered  with  gold,  of  the  weight  of  three  ounces;  three  pairs  of  our  boots  of  Persian 
leather  ;  ten  Dalmatian  belts  ;  a  Dardanian  chlamys  in  the  form  of  a  mantle  ;  an  Illyrian  cloak 


CLAUDIUS  AND  AURELIAN,  268  TO  275  a.  d. 


275 


Gallienus  hoped  to  pay  his  ransom  in  this  way ;  but  pro¬ 
bably  Claudius  only  despised  him  the  more  for  it.  When  the 
conspirators  proclaimed  the  new  Emperor,  the  soldiers  showed  some 
discontent,  in  order  to  make  their  price  higher.  Twenty  pieces  of 
gold  distributed  to  each  man  removed  all  scruples.  They  declared 
Gallienus  a  tyrant ;  and  the  Senate,  with  more  genuine  eagerness, 
did  the  same.  They  despatched  to  the  Gemoniae  the  servants  of 
the  man  who  had  been  displeased  at  any  trace  of  patriotism  in  the 
senators  ;1  and  it  is  related  that  in  the  curia  itself  one  of  the  officers 
of  the  treasury  had  his  eyes  put  out,2  —  a  shameful  act  of  cruelty, 
a  presage  of  the  degenerate  days  of  the  Later  Empire.  Claudius 
put  a  stop  to  these  executions,  and  the  Conscript  Fathers,  repenting, 
placed  Gallienus  among  the  divi,  —  which  was  equivalent  to  the 
maintenance  of  his  acts. 

When  they  heard  of  the  election  of  Claudius,  they  confirmed 
it  by  those  repeated  acclamations  which  seem  to  us  so  contrary  to 
senatorial  gravity,  but  were  at  that  time  a  surprise  to  no  one : 
“  Augustus  Claudius,  the  gods  grant  you  to  our  prayers”  (repeated 
sixty  times) ;  “  Claudius  Augustus,  it  is  you,  or  a  ruler  resembling 
you,  whom  we  have  ever  desired”  (forty  times);  “ Claudius  Augus¬ 
tus,  the  wishes  of  the  state  call  you  to  the  throne  ”  (forty  times) ; 
4t  Claudius  Augustus,  you  are  the  model  of  brothers,  fathers,  friends, 
senators,  and  rulers”  (eighty  times);  “  Claudius  Augustus,  deliver  us 
from  Aureolus  ”  (five  times) ;  “  Claudius  Augustus,  deliver  us  from 
the  Palmyrenes  ”  (five  times) ;  “  Claudius  Augustus,  deliver  us  from 
Zenobia  and  Victorina  ”  (seven  times) ;  “  Claudius  Augustus,  may 
Tetricus  be  nought”  (seven  times).3 

Claudius  in  fact  found  himself  in  the  presence  of  three 
adversaries.  With  better  judgment  than  the  Senate  possessed,  he 
neglected  two  of  them,  who  were  far  away,  at  the  extremities  of 
the  Empire ;  rapidly  disposed  of  the  third,  whom  a  judgment  of  the 
soldiers  condemned  to  death ;  and  occupied  himself  with  preparing 
for  a  great  war  against  the  Barbarians.  “  The  matter  of  Tetricus,” 


for  bad  weather ;  an  over-garment  with  a  hood ;  two  furred  hoods  ;  four  pieces  of  Phoenician 
stuffs  ;  150  "old  Valerians  and  300  trientes  sciloninienses.” 

1  See  p.  239. 

2  .  .  .  Patronoque  Jisci  in  curiam  perducto  effossos  oculos  pependisse  satis  constat  (Aur. 
Victor,  Caes.  33). 

3  Treb.  Pollio,  Claud.  4. 


276  ILLYRIAN  EMPERORS:  THE  EMPIRE  STRENGTHENED. 


he  said  to  the  Senate,  “  concerns  myself  only ;  that  of  the  Goths  is 
of  importance  to  the  state.”  1 

For  the  last  thirty  years  these  Barbarians  had  been  ravaging 
the  Roman  frontiers ;  as  booty  became  scarce,  they  formed  the 
idea  of  establishing  themselves  as  a  nation  in  the  interior  of  the 
Empire,  whose  climate  they  knew  to  be  milder  than  that  of 
the  Scythian  plains,  where  extremes  of  cold  and  heat  made  life 
hard.  Messengers  were  sent  from  the  banks  of  the  Dniester  to 
those  of  the  Morava  (March) ;  councils  were  held  among  the 
Tervingae,  or  Eastern  Goths,  among  the  Gepidae,  the  Heruli,  the 
Peucinii ;  and  a  vast  coalition  was  formed  to  second  the  invasion 
of  the  Eastern  Goths  by  a  series  of  attacks  upon  the  middle 
Danube.  The  Scordisci,  of  Celtic  origin,  entered  the  league ;  the 
Alemanni  and  their  neighbors,  the  Juthungi,2  doubtless  informed 
as  to  these  projects,  promised  themselves  to  take  advantage  of 
them  to  raid  the  rich  valley  of  the  Po.  They  even  were  the 
first  to  be  ready.  Without  waiting  for  their  allies,  they  rushed 
through  the  defiles  of  the  Alps,  which  they  had  often  before 
traversed,  and  came  down  in  the  year  268  upon  the  shores  of 
the  Lago  di  Garda  (Benacus).  Claudius  met  them  there  with 
an  army  which  he  had  already  been  able  to  subject  thoroughly 
to  his  authority,  and  half  of  the  Barbarians  fell  under  the  sword 
of  the  legionaries.  It  was  a  good  omen  for  the  more  serious 
strife  to  come. 

During  the  winter  of  268  the  hatchet  rang  incessantly  through 
the  Sarmatian  forests ;  the  felled  trees  were  rolled  to  the  river 
banks,  and  in  the  spring  these  streams  were  covered  with  two 
thousand  vessels,3  whereon  tried  warriors  were  embarked.  The 
horde  itself,  consisting  of  three  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  fighting- 
men,4 —  not  to  mention  the  women  and  children  and  slaves, — 

1  lie  took,  however,  some  precautions  to  close  Italy  against  the  Gallic  Emperor,  and  to 
threaten  the  provinces  of  the  latter.  An  inscription  recently  discovered  at  Grenoble  gives  Clau¬ 
dius  the  title  of  Germanicus  Maximus,  which  he  took  after  his  victories  over  the  Alemanni,  and 
reveals  a  fact  which  no  historian  has  mentioned  ;  namely,  his  making  ready  for  a  campaign 
against  Tetricus.  This  inscription  is  engraved  at  the  base  of  a  statue  raised  to  Claudius  by  an 
army  corps  posted  in  Narbonensis,  in  which  were  some  of  the  imperial  guard  ( protectores ),  and 
whose  commander  was  the  perfectissimus  Julius  Placidianus,  prefect  of  the  watch  (L.  Renier, 
in  the  Comptes  rendus  de  I'Acad.  des  inscr.  et  belles-lettres,  July  18,  1879). 

2  Amm.  Marcellinus  (xvii.  G)  says  of  the  Juthungi:  Alamannorum pars. 

3  Zosimus  (I.  42)  says  six  thousand. 

4  This  is  the  statement  of  Claudius  in  his  letter  to  the  Senate. 


CLAUDIUS  AND  AURELIAN,  268  TO  275  a.  d.  277 

set  out  on  its  march  westward,  with  innumerable  flocks,1  and 
great  wagons  which  were  made  to  serve  as  protection  to  their 


ROMAN  TROOPER  TREADING  A  GERMAN  UNDER  HIS  HORSE’S  FEET.2 


camps.3  The  army  and  the  fleet  followed  the  coast,  keeping 

1  The  Barbarians  habitually  drove  their  flocks  along  with  them,  in  order  to  secure  their 
subsistence.  We  read  in  the  Augustan  History  that  under  Valerian,  —  that  is  to  say,  before  the 
great  invasion,  —  Aurelian  took  from  some  bands  in  Thrace  oxen  and  horses  enough  to  supply 
the  province,  and  that  he  was  able  also  to  send  to  one  of  the  Emperor’s  villas  2,000  cows, 
1,000  mares,  10,000  sheep,  and  15,000  goats.  This  was  the  booty  most  frequently  obtained 
from  the  Barbarians.  Accordingly,  Treb.  Pollio  (Claud.  9)  exclaims,  after  the  Emperor’s 
great  victory  :  Quid  bourn  barbarorum  nostri  videre  majores,  quid  ovium,  quid  equarum  ? 

2  Monument  found  near  Zalilbach  (Museum  of  Mayence).  The  Barbarian  is  recogniza¬ 
ble  by  his  long  hair  and  his  curved  sword  (L.  Stracke,  op.  cit.  p.  59). 

3  This  use  was  so  well  known  to  the  Homans  that  they  invented  a  new  word  to  express 


278  ILLYRIAN  EMPERORS:  THE  EMPIRE  STRENGTHENED. 


at  some  distance  from  it,  —  the  former  to  avoid  the  marshes 
which  the  sluggish  rivers  of  this  region  create  at  their  mouths, 
the  latter  on  account  of  the  shoals  which  the  alluvial  deposits 
form  to  a  considerable  distance.1  The  Danube  was  crossed  by 
aid  of  the  vessels,  and  a  few  days’  march  brought  the  Goths 
in  sight  of  Tomi.  Preceding  invasions  had  made  clear  to  all 
the  cities  in  this  region  the  necessity  of  reconstructing  their 
walls  and  putting  themselves  in  a  state  of  defence.  Tomi 
closed  its  gates ;  the  inhabitants  manned  their  walls,  and  the  Goths 
were' not  in  a  condition  to  effect  a  breach.  Being  unable  to  delay 

in  these  plains  of  the  Dobroudja, 
where  it  is  so  difficult  to  live,  they 
set  out  towards  the  Balkans  in  the  di¬ 
rection  of  Marcianopolis  (eighteen  miles 
eastward  of  Varna).  This  city,  built 
by  Trajan,  was  worthy  of  its  founder, 
and  stood  firm  against  all  attacks. 
Upon  this  the  Barbarians  conceived  a  skilful  design :  they  sepa¬ 
rated  ;  the  fleet  sailed  towards  the  Propontis,  threatened  Byzantium 
and  Cyzicus,  and  then,  notwithstanding  a  tempest  which  cost  it  a 
great  loss  of  men  and  vessels,  reached  the  peninsula  of  Atlios, 
where  they  again  separated.  Part  of  them  besieged  Cassandreia 
(the  ancient  Potidaea)  and  the  great  city  of  Thessalonica,  to  open 
a  way  into  Macedon.  The  others  ravaged  Greece,  the  Cyclades, 
Crete,  Rhodes,  Cyprus ;  and  the  storm,  losing  its  strength  as  it 
went  on,  at  last  died  away  on  the  shores  of  Pamphylia. 

While  the  rumor  of  these  raids  detained  in  the  southern  part  of 
the  Empire  those  Roman  forces  which  were  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  Aegean  Sea,  the  main  attack  of  the  Barbarians  was  made 
on  the  North.  The  Goths  traversed  Moesia,  and  arrived  in  the 
valley  of  the  Margus  (the  Morava),  being  well  aware  that  they 


COIN  OF  TOMTJS.2 


it  .  .  .  facta  carragine  (Treb.  Pollio,  Gall.  13,  and  Amm.  Marcellinus,  xxxi.  7).  The  Goths 
before  the  battle  of  Adrianople,  Attila  after  the  battle  of  Chalons,  shut  themselves  within  a 
wall  made  of  their  wagons ;  and  the  emigrants  upon  the  plains  of  the  Territories  of  the  United 
States  do  the  same  at  this  day. 

1  "Whatever  may  have  been  the  number  of  vessels,  the  fleet  could  not  have  carried  the 
entire  army,  and  the  history  of  this  invasion  is  incomprehensible  unless  we  admit  that  there 
was  both  a  land  and  a  sea  force. 

2  Bust  of  Tomus.  On  the  reverse,  TOMI  TIMO,  and  an  eagle  within  an  oak-wreath. 
(Bronze  coin.) 


CLAUDIUS  AND  AUKELIAN,  268  TO  275  a.  d. 


279 


could  not  establish  themselves  peacefully  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
Danube  until  after  they  had  destroyed  the  imperial  army.  Never, 
since  the  Gauls  and  Hannibal,  had  Rome  been  in  so  great  danger. 
Claudius  wrote  to  the  Senate :  “  I  must  tell  you  the  truth,  Con¬ 
script  Fathers.  Three  hundred  thousand  Barbarians  have  invaded 
Roman  territory.  If  I  am  successful,  you  will  acknowledge  that  we 
have  deserved  well  of  our  country.  If  I  am  not  victorious,  remember 
whom  I  follow.  The  state  is  exhausted,  and  we  fight  after  Valerian, 
after  Ingenuus,  after  Regalianus,  after  Laelianus,  after 
Postumus,  after  Celsus,  after  many  others,  who  have 
been  detached  from  the  state  on  account  of  the  contempt 
inspired  by  Gallienus.  We  are  deficient  in  bucklers  and 
swords  and  javelins.  Tetricus  is  master  of  the  Gallic 

,  0  .  .  .  .  ,  SMALL  BRONZE.1 

and  Spanish  provinces,  which  are  the  strength  ot  the 
Empire  ;  and  —  I  am  ashamed  to  say  it  —  our  archers  are  all  serving 
under  Zenobia.  Whatever  little  we  may  do,  our  successes  will  be 
as  great  as  you  have  a  right  to  expect.”  2 

Claudius  acted  with  discretion.  He  did  not  advance  directly 
upon  this  enormous  mass.  Leaving  his  brother  Quintillus  at  the 
head  of  a  considerable  army  in  the  neighborhood  of  Aquileia,  to 
keep  secure  this  gate  into  Italy,  he  himself  traversed  Illyria, 
entered  Macedon  by  the  pass  of  Scupi,  and  halted  in  the  upper 
valley  of  the  Axius.  He  thus  placed  himself  between  the  fleet 
of  the  Goths  and  their  land  army.  Protected  against  the  latter 
by  Mount  Orbelos,  he  could  by  the  Axius,  which  falls  into  the 
extremity  of  the  Thermaic  Gulf,  keep  watch  over  the  coast.  If 
the  siege-machines  which  the  Barbarians  had  caused  to  be  con¬ 
structed  by  Roman  fugitives  should  overcome  the  resistance  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Thessalonica,  the  Emperor  would  be  able  to  hinder  the 
victors  from  passing  over  into  Macedon  and  effecting  a  junction 
with  their  comrades.  This  position  permitted  him,  therefore,  to 
wait  his  time  for  striking  a  decisive  blow. 

But  the  Goths  were  not  able  to  storm  a  well-defended  city, 
and  they  had  not  the  patience  to  reduce  it  by  famine.3  At  the 

1  Quintillus,  brother  of  Claudius  II. 

2  Treb.  Pollio,  Claud.  7. 

8  To  preserve  the  memory  of  the  brave  resistance  made  by  Thessalonica,  a  bronze  medal 
was  struck  in  honor  of  the  god  Cabirus  ( Deo  Cabiro),  the  protecting  divinity  of  the  city,  who 
doubtless  came  thither  from  Samothrace,  the  sanctuary  of  the  Cabiri.  (Cf.  Eckhel,  vii.  472.) 


280  ILLYRIAN  EMPERORS:  THE  EMPIRE  STRENGTHENED. 

news  of  the  approach  of  Claudius  they  marched  boldly  to  meet  him ; 
Aurelian,  whom  the  Emperor  had  appointed  chief  of  the  cavalry, 
arrested  them  by  an  engagement,  in  which  the  Dalmatian  horse  dis¬ 
tinguished  themselves.  Three  thousand  Goths  were  killed,  many 
more  were  taken  prisoners,  and  Claudius,  now  set  free  to  move 


GOTHS  — MEN,  WOMEN,  AND  CHILDREN  —  LED  INTO  SLAVERY.1 


northward  by  the  discomfiture  of  the  southern  enemy,  went  across 
the  mountains  in  search  of  the  great  army  in  the  valley  of  the 
Margus.  The  battle  took  place  near  Nai'ssus  (Nissa) ;  it  was  long 
and  sanguinary.  A  corps,  which  found  the  opportunity  to  advance 
through  an  unguarded  road,  turned  the  enemy’s  flank  and  fell  upon 
their  rear.  This  movement  was  fatal  to  the  Barbarians  :  fifty  thou¬ 
sand  remained  upon  the  field  (269),1  2  and  the  others,  cut  off  from  the 
valley  of  the  Danube,  fell  in  scattered  bands  upon  Macedon  and 

1  Bas-relief  from  a  sarcophagus  of  the  third  century  (Vatican). 

2  We  have  medals  of  Claudius  of  this  year  which  represent  him  with  the  radiate  crown. 
(Cf.  Eckhel,  vii.  471.) 


CLAUDIUS  AND  AURELIAN,  26S  TO  275  a.  d. 


281 


Thrace.  The  legions  separated  to  pursue  them ;  the  war  was  broken 
into  fragments,  and  it  became  impossible  to  repeat  the  blow  struck 
at  Naissus.  From  time  to  time  the  Barbarians  halted  behind  the 
wall  of  their  wagons,  —  a  movable  fortification,  whence  they  made 
successful  sorties  against  those  of  the  Romans  who  ventured  in 
too  small  force  into  their  neighborhood.  Nevertheless,  wasted  by 


ROMAN  AUXILIARY  HORSEMAN  (MUSEUM  OF  MAYENCE). 


continual  attacks,  by  hunger,  and  by  disease,  they  perished  in  multi¬ 
tudes.  A  somewhat  numerous  troop  succeeded  in  taking  refuge  in 
the  Balkans.  The  Romans  followed  them  thither,  and  barred  all 
egress  from  the  mountain,  where  during  the  severe  winter  provisions 
were  lacking  ;  and  to  complete  their  destruction,  Claudius  entered 
the  defiles  and  put  them  to  the  sword  (270). 

The  Emperor  prepared  his  bulletin  of  victory  with  a  rhetoric 


282  ILLYRIAN  EMPERORS:  THE  EMPIRE  STRENGTHENED. 


not  unpardonable:  “We  have  destroyed  a  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  Goths,  and  sunk  two  thousand  vessels.  The  water  of 
the  river  is  concealed  under  the  bucklers  that  it  bears  along  with 


COIN  OP 
CLAUDIUS  II.8 


it,  the  banks  under  broken  swords  and  lances,  the  fields  under 
the  bones  of  the  dead.  The  roads  are  all  choked  with  the  enor¬ 
mous  baggage  the  enemy  have  left  behind  them.”  1 

The  imperial  fleet  had  also  been  successful  in  destroying  what 
remained  of  the  vessels  that  had  come  from  the  Dniester  • 2  so  that 
of  this  vast  multitude,  very  few  returned  to  the 
regions  they  had  left  a  year  before  so  full  of  hope 
and  courage.  Those  who  had  not  perished  were  sent 
to  cultivate  as  slaves  or  colonists  the  lands  of  the 
conquerors,  and  their  wives  were  distributed  among 
the  Roman  soldiers.  A  certain  number  of  their 
young  men  were  enrolled  in  the  cohorts,  and  others 
sent  to  Rome  to  fight  in  the  amphitheatres.  The  capital  doubt¬ 
less  was  not  the  only  city  honored  with  “  a  present  of  gladiators.” 
Claudius  would  naturally  grant  the  same  favor  to  many  cities,  that 
all  Italy  might  see  serving  its  pleasures  those  Goths  who,  during 
an  entire  generation,  had  inspired  it  with  so  much  alarm.4 

This  immense  drain  upon  the  Gothic  nation  was  to  secure  a 
century  of  repose  to  Moesia.6  But  the  Emperor  who  had  repulsed 
this  first  and  formidable  invasion  fell  amid  his  triumph.  A  pesti¬ 
lence  had  aided  him  in  setting  free  the  provinces,  but  it  carried 
him  off  at  Sirmium  (April,  270).  He  was  but  fifty -four,  and  his 
strong  maturit}7  promised  the  Empire  a  reparatory  reign ;  for  he 
loved  justice,  he  desired  discipline,  and  he  was  of  those  who  knew 
how  to  maintain  it.  In  the  midst  of  the  ambitious  surnames, 
which  so  many  Emperors  have  received,  —  some  for  real,  but  more 
for  problematic  victories,  —  history  should  give  the  most  honorable 


1  Epistola  ad  Jun.  Brocclium  Illyricum  tuentem  (Treb.  Pollio,  Claud.  8). 

2  Zonaras,  xii.  26. 

3  Reverse  of  a  coin  of  Claudius  IT.,  bearing  :  IVVENTVS  AVG.  (Small  bronze.)  This 
coin,  with  the  effigy  of  Hercules,  makes  allusion  to  the  green  old  age  of  the  Emperor,  as 
Vergil  says  ( Aeneid ,  vi.  304), — 

Jam  senior  sed  cruda  dea  viridisque  senectus. 

4  Treb.  Pollio  (Claud.  8-9)  :  .  .  .  Impletae  larbaris  servis  Romanae provinciae  ;  factus  colonus 
ex  Gotho,  nec  ulla  fuit  regio  quae  Gothum  servum  non  haberet.  He  speaks  also  of  immenser 
droves  of  oxen  and  sheep  and  equarum  quas  fama  nobilitat  Celtiearum.  (Cf.  Zosimus,  i.  46.) 

5  .  .  .  Pulsi  per  longa  saecula  siluerunt  irnmobiles  (Amm.  Marcellinus,  xxxi.  5). 


CLAUDIUS  AND  AURELIAN,  268  TO  275  a.  d 


283 


mention  to  that  of  Claudius  Gothicus.  The  nations  long  remem¬ 
bered  him.  As  late  as  the  time  of  Constantine,  Eumenes  says: 
“Why  did  he  not  longer  remain  the  protector  of  men,  and  later 
become  the  companion  of  the  gods?”1 

At  news  of  the  death  of  Claudius  the  legions  of  Aquileia  pro¬ 
claimed  his  brother,  M.  Aurelius  Quintillus,  whom  the 
Senate  hastened  to  recognize.  The  soldiers  of  Panno- 
nia  had  made,  however,  a  better  choice  in  naming 
Aurelian,2 3  whom,  according  to  some  accounts,  Claudius 
himself  had  designated  as  his  successor.  Such  was 
the  fame  of  this  general  that  his  rival  did  not  even 
attempt  to  contend  against  him.  After  a  reign  of  three  weeks 
according  to  some,  of  several  months  according  to  others,4  Quintillus 
killed  himself,  or  was  put  to  death  by  soldiers  whom  his  severity 
had  incensed. 


II.- — Aurelian  (270-275).5 

“After  the  ceremonies  of  the  festival  of  Cybele,”  says  Vopiscus, 
“  the  prefect  of  the  city,  Junius  Tiberianus,  took  me  in  his  chariot 
from  the  Palatine  to  the  gardens  of  Varus,  and  we  talked,  among 
other  things,  of  the  history  of  the  Emperors.  When  we  came  to 
the  temple  of  the  Sun  dedicated  by  Aurelian,  Tiberianus,  who 
belonged  to  the  family  of  this  Emperor,  asked  me  if  any  one  had 
written  his  life.  ‘Certain  Greeks  have  done  it,’  I  said,  ‘but  no 
Latins.’  ‘  What !  ’  exclaimed  this  upright  man,6  ‘  a  Thersites,  a 
Sinon,  and  all  the  monsters  of  antiquity  are  known  to  us,  posterity 
will  also  know  them,  and  Aurelian,  this  valiant  Emperor  who  has 
restored  the  world  to  Rome,  will  be  to  our  descendants  a  stranger ! 


1  Panegyr.  Constantini,  2. 

2  This  is  the  statement  of  Zonaras  ;  Zosimus  does  not  give  Aurelian  the  imperial  dignity 
until  after  the  death  of  Quintillus. 

3  IMP.  C.  M.  AYR.  CL.  QVINTILLVS  AYG.  around  the  radiate  head  of  the  Augustus. 
(Bronze  coin.) 

4  This  is  the  statement  of  Zosimus.  The  number  of  coins  of  Quintillus  that  we  possess 
(Eckhel,  vii.  478;  Cohen,  v.  112-120)  compel  us  to  adopt  the  second  opinion,  which,  more¬ 
over,  agrees  better  with  the  early  facts  of  Aurelian’s  reign. 

5  L.  Domitius  Aurelianus. 

6  Vopiscus  says  (Aur.  1)  sanctus,  using  the  word  in  its  ancient  sense. 


284  ILLYRIAN  EMPERORS:  THE  EMPIRE  STRENGTHENED. 


Meanwhile  we  have  his  Ephemerides,  in  which  he  ordered  to  be 
registered  his  acts  day  by  day.1  I  will  cause  these  books,  which 
are  in  the  Ulpian  library,  to  be  given  you,  that  you  may  represent 

Aurelian  as  he  really  was.’” 

These  were  rich  materials 
which  the  highest  magistrate  of 
Rome  offered  to  the  historian. 
Yopiscus,  a  man  of  small  mind 
and  a  poor  writer,  knew  not 
how  to  avail  himself  of  them. 
But  the  official  documents  which 
he  drew  from  the  archives  are 
in  many  ways  interesting ;  we 
have  used  some  of  them  already, 
and  shall  use  others  hereafter. 

Claudius  had  destroyed  the 
great  Gothic  army,  with  the 
exception  of  some  few  bands 
which  had  found  shelter  here 
and  there  among  the  mountains, 
and  later  reappeared  for  a  mo¬ 
ment  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Anchialos  and  Nicopolis,  where 
the  country  people  proved  strong 
enough  to  disperse  them.2  But, 
bust  of  cybele.3  following  the  concerted  plan, 

there  was  to  be  a  second  invasion  by  way  of  Pannonia ;  the  Van¬ 
dals,  the  Juthungi,  and  the  Alemanni  were  in  motion.  To  arrest 
these  new  assailants,  Claudius  had  turned  northward  and  encamped 


1  Ephemeridas  .  .  .  libris  linteis  (ibid.).  The  scene  related  in  this  passage  has  been  placed 
about  291,  or  sixteen  years  after  the  death  of  Aurelian.  Junius  Tiberianus  in  this  year  held 
his  second  consulship,  but  not  the  urban  prefecture.  Many  passages  in  chaps,  xlii.  and  xliii. 
prove  that  Yopiscus  wrote  his  book  after  the  accession  of  Constantius  Chlorus  (305).  The 
father  of  Yopiscus  had  been  among  the  intimate  friends  of  Diocletian,  and  we  have  seen  that 
the  son  was  the  companion  of  the  urban  prefect.  These  relations  with  the  highest  society  in 
Rome  placed  him  in  a  position  to  take  advantage  of  the  reminiscences  of  Aurelian’s  early  com¬ 
panions  in  arms ;  but  his  feeble  literary  merit  proves  that  this  society  was  not  very  exacting 
in  respect  to  mental  gifts. 

2  This  fact  explains  certain  medals  of  Quintillus. 

3  Roman  work  of  the  first  century,  found  near  Abbeville.  (Marble  in  the  Cabinet  de 
France,  No.  2,918.) 


CLAUDIUS  AND  AURELIAN,  268  TO  275  a.  d. 


285 


his  troops  at  Sirmium,  a  strong  place  not  far  from  the  point  where 
the  Save  falls  into  the  Danube,  and  the  defensive  centre  of  the 
entire  region. 

Aurelian  was  at  this  spot  when  the  death  of  Claudius  gave 
him  the  Empire.  He  was  born,  in  214, 1  in  the  neighborhood  of 
this  city,  the  son  of  a  colonist  of  the  senator  Aurelius,  whose  name, 
according  to  usage,  had  been  assumed  by  his  freedman,  and  the 
latter  had  charge  of  a  little  farm  belonging  to  his  patron.2  The 
mother  of  Aurelian  had  been  a  priestess  of  the  Sun  in  the  village 
where  they  lived,  and  he  always  preserved  a  special  veneration  for 
that  divinity.  We  know  his  courage,  his  exploits,  and  the  high 
offices  which  he  had  filled.  Loaded  with  honors  by  Valerian,  he  had 
been,  at  the  suggestion  of  that  Emperor,  received  as  adopted  son  or 
son-in-law  into  the  family  of  Ulpius  Crinitus,  one  of  the  great  per¬ 
sonages  of  the  Empire,  who  claimed  to  be  a  descendant  of  Trajan ; 
and  thus  the  son  of  a  Pannonian  peasant  became  the  heir  to  the 
household  gods,  the  name,  and  the  wealth  of  the  most  illustrious 
house  in  Rome.3 

Very  severe  as  to  discipline,  very  exacting  for  the  service, 
Aurelian  exercised,  however,  a  great  influence  over  the  troops,  for 
the  reason  that  they  had  often  seen  their  general  fighting  like  a 
common  soldier,  —  a  circumstance  which,  in  the  ancient  wars, 
added  prestige  to  a  chief.  There  was  talk  of  many  enemies  whom 
he  had  slain,  and  he  was  known  in  the  camps  as  “  the  iron-handed 
Aurelian.” 4  Being  the  bravest,  it  was  permitted  him  to  be  the 
most  severe.  A  soldier  had  offered  insult  to  the  wife  of  the  man 


1  Malalas  (xii.  301)  makes  him  sixty-one  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  his  death,  which  fixes 
the  date  of  his  birth  in  214;  Tillemont  and  Wietersheim  place  it  in  212.  The  Alexandrian 
Chronicle  makes  him  seventy-five  at  his  death ;  but  the  facts  of  his  reign,  medals,  and  other 
considerations,  do  not  permit  us  to  attribute  to  him  this  advanced  age. 

2  Colonus,  says  the  author  of  the  Epitome,  35. 

3  Vopiseus  speaks,  following  documents  which  he  gives  as  official,  of  a  formal  adoption  ; 
but  as  Aurelian  did  not  take  the  name  of  Ulpius  Crinitus,  which  he  would  have  done,  according 
to  usage,  had  he  been  adopted,  we  feel  obliged  to  doubt  the  authenticity  of  the  act.  On  the 
other  hand,  both  inscriptions  (Orelli,  Nos.  1,032  and  5,552)  and  coins  (Eckhel,  vii.  487) 
give  him  as  a  wife  Ulpia  Severina.  If  this  Ulpia  was  the  daughter  of  Crinitus,  the  marriage 
would  have  secured  to  Aurelian  the  same  advantages  as  an  adoption,  while  had  he  been  the 
adopted  son  of  Ulpius  Crinitus  he  could  not  have  married  her  who  had  thus  become  legally  his 
sister.  Many  ancient  rules  had,  however,  fallen  into  desuetude,  and  it  is  possible  that  both  the 
adoption  and  the  marriage  did  take  place. 

4  This  is  rather  a  mediteval  equivalent  than  an  exact  translation  of  the  Latin  mnnu  ad 
ferrum  (Aur.  6),  “  Aurelian,  sword  in  hand/’ 


286  ILLYRIAN  EMPERORS:  THE  EMPIRE  STRENGTHENED. 


with  whom  he  was  quartered :  Aurelian  ordered  him  to  be  bound 
between  two  trees  bent  together,  which  tore  him  asunder  as  they 
sprang  back  into  their  place.  On  one  occasion  he  wrote  to  an 
officer :  “  If  you  desire  to  be  a  tribune,  if  you  wish  even  to  live, 
restrain  the  soldier.  Let  no  man  steal  a  fowl  or  a  sheep  or  so 
much  as  a  bunch  of  grapes,  or  demand  oil,  salt,  or  wood.  Each 
must  be  content  with  his  rations  :  what  the  state  provides  is  enough  ; 
booty  must  be  taken  from  the  enemy,  and  must  not  cost  tears  to 
the  provinces.  See  to  it  that  weapons,  clothing,  and  shoes  are 
always  in  good  condition,  the  pack-horses  well  groomed,  the 
company’s  mule1  cared  for  by  each  soldier  in  his  turn,  and  all  the 
forage  used,  so  that  none  be  sold.  See  that  the  soldiers  be  attended 
gratuitously  by  the  surgeons,  and  prevent  them  from  wasting  their 
money  in  taverns  or  upon  soothsayers ;  require  them  to  conduct 
themselves  decently  in  quarters,  and  let  brawlers  be  beaten.” 
Septimius  Severus  had  been  wont  to  speak  thus,  and  this  firmness 
had  given  him  an  illustrious  reign  ;  it  had  the  same  results  in  the 
case  of  Aurelian. 

Like  the  great  African,  Aurelian  was  a  man  of  strict  morality, 
and  disdainful  of  pleasure ;  like  him,  also,  Aurelian  did  not  hasten 
to  receive  the  foolish  acclamations  of  the  Senate.  He  defeated  the 
Juthungi,  who  threatened  Rhaetia,  and  regulated  the  affairs  of  this 
frontier,  which  occupied  several  months.  When  he  at  last  made 
the  journey  to  Rome,  he  spoke  haughtily  in  the  curia.  “  I  have 
gold  for  my  friends,”  he  said,  “  and  I  have  steel  for  my  foes.” 2 
It  will  soon  be  seen  that  these  foes  were  not  always  on  the  frontiers. 
To  have  no  cause  to  fear  in  Italy  the  old  troops  of  Quintillus,  he 
had  brought  home  with  him  from  Pannonia  a  large  force.  The 
Juthungi  and  Vandals  deemed  the  occasion  propitious  to  invade  that 
province.  Aurelian  returned  thither  in  all  haste,  sending  before  him 
the  order  to  collect  the  grain  and  cattle  within  the  fortresses.  The 
shock  was  severe,  and  the  victory  indecisive.  When  night  came, 
however,  the  enemy  fell  back,  and  Aurelian  was  able  to  cut  off 
their  route  to  the  Danube.  Menaced  by  famine  in  a  desolated 
country,  the  Barbarians  were  ready  to  negotiate.  Their  envoys  con¬ 
cealed  fear  under  a  show  of  arrogance,  and  the  Emperor  postponed 

1  Mulurn  centuriatum ,  the  ordinance  mule. 

2  Some  uncertainty  exists  in  regard  to  the  order  of  events  in  the  first  months  of  Aurelian’s 
reign.  I  have  followed  the  account  which  seems  to  harmonize  best  with  the  known  facts. 


CLAUDIUS  AND  AUKELIAN,  2G8  TO  275  a.  d 


287 


their  audience  until  the  following  day.  He  then  received  them  seated 
upon  his  tribunal,  surrounded  by  a  threatening  military  display. 
On  each  side,  his  principal  officers  on  horseback;  behind  him,  the 


AUKELIAN.1 


golden  eagles  of  the  legions,  the  effigies  of  the  Emperors,  the 
silver  pikes  which  bore  in  gilt  letters  the  names  of  the  different 
corps ;  in  the  distance  the  army,  as  if  ready  to  engage,  ranged  in  a 
semicircle  upon  an  eminence  which  brought  it  into  full  view.2  Less 

1  Bust  of  the  Vatican,  Braccio  Nuovo,  No.  122. 

2 'A  8tj  crv/jiTravTa  avaTfrapiva  Trpov(fialveTo  .  .  .  (Dexippos,  Fra  gin.  hist.  Graec.  iii.  682; 
Peter  Patricius,  Excerpta  de  legationibus,  p.  126). 


288  ILLYRIAN  EMPERORS:  THE  EMPIRE  STRENGTHENED. 


skilful  in  concealing  their  feelings  than  were  the  Indians  of  North 
America,  the  Juthungi  stood  for  a  while  abashed  in  the  presence 
of  this  imposing  spectacle ;  but  their  audacity  soon  returned  to 
them.  “We  do  not  ask  peace  as  those  who  have  been  con¬ 
quered,”  said  their  interpreter,  “  but  as  former  friends  of  the 
Romans,  and  as  men  who  know  that  a  battle  lost  by  a  surprise 
may  be  followed  by  a  victory.  Our  nation  alone  numbers  forty 
thousand  cavalry,  and  twice  as  many  foot ;  and  Italy,  which  we  have 
almost  completely  overrun,  knows  well  our  valor.  In  alliance 
with  us  you  will  have  no  enemy  to  fear ;  give  us,  therefore,  the 
usual  presents,  the  subsidies  that  we  were  receiving  before  the  war, 
and  let  peace  be  made.”  Dexippos,  who  relates  the  scene,  is  a  con¬ 
temporary,  but  he  puts  in  the  mouth  of  Aurelian  an  improbably  long 
reply,  of  which  we  give  only  the  concluding  words :  “  Since  you  have 
violated  the  treaties  and  pillaged  our  territory,  you  have  no  right  to 
ask  any  favors,  and  it  is  your  place  to  accept  the  conqueror  s  law. 
You  know  what  became  of  the  three  hundred  thousand  Goths 
who  invaded  the  Empire :  the  same  fate  awaits  you.  It  is  my 
intention  to  cross  the  Danube  and  punish  you  in  your  own  homes 
for  your  broken  faith.”  The  Juthungi,  completely  intimidated, 
promised  to  return  into  their  country.  A  few  months  later  came 
another  invasion  of  the  Vandals  and  the  Jazyges,  and  another 
victory  on  the  part  of  Aurelian,  who,  to  facilitate  their  retreat,  sup¬ 
plied  them  with  provisions.  They  gave  up  as  hostages  the  sons  of 
their  chiefs  and  two  thousand  horsemen,  who  were  included  among 
the  auxiliaries  of  the  legions.1  Aurelian,  making  a  sacrifice  on  his 
part  which  must  have  cost  his  pride  a  pang,  although  it  cost  the 
Empire  nothing,  ceded  Dacia  to  them,  offering  lands  on  the  south 
of  the  Danube  to  those  Roman  colonists  who  were  unwilling  to 
remain  in  the  province.  This  relinquishment  was  necessary,  for 
Dacia,  overrun  from  both  sides,  and  invaded  to  its  very  centre, 
was  no  longer  tenable.  If  there  yet  remained  Romans  in  the  pro¬ 
vince,  and  there  were  enough  certainly  to  form  a  brave  and 
noble  population,  there  was  no  Roman  administration  except  in 
Transylvania,  where  a  few  cohorts  probably  defended  the  gold¬ 
mines  of  that  country,  which  had  been  worked  by  the  Romans  for 

1  Five  hundred  who  had  spread  themselves  abroad  in  order  to  plunder,  were  murdered 
by  the  commandant  of  the  auxiliaries,  and  the  Vandal  king  had  their  chief  shot  by  his  bowmen 
( Ibid.  p.  6863. 


289 


CLAUDIUS  AND  AUEELIAN,  268  TO  275  a.  d 


a  century  and  a  half.  To  produce  the  impression  that  nothing  had 
been  lost,  a  new  Dacia  was  constructed  out  of  a  part  of  Moesia, 
and  the  name  of  Trajan’s  conquest  still  remained  on  the  official  list 
of  the  provinces.  But  instead  of  the  Dacia  of  the  mountains,  a 


fortress  which  would  have  been  impregnable  if  it  had  been  possible 
to  close  its  gate  on  the  lower  Danube,  it  was  the  Dacia  of  the 
shore,  Dacia  Ripensis ,1  2  which  no  longer  protected  anything.  At 
last  the  god  Terminus  fell  back.  For  a  victor,  the  condition  was 
hard ;  Aurelian  seems  to  have  felt  the  need  of  protecting  himself 


1  From  the  Museum  of  Naples. 

2  Between  Upper  and  Lower  Moesia.  It  was  at  first  called  Dacia  Aureliani  (Vopiscus, 
Aur.  39);  it  was  afterwards  divided  into  Dacia  Ripensis,  with  the  capital  Ratiaria  (Arzar 
Palanka),  and  Dacia  Mediterranea,  with  the  capital  Sardica  (Triaditza).  Dexippos  does  not 
mention  (at  least  in  the  fragments  which  remain  to  us)  the  abandonment  of  Dacia,  and  the 
narrative  of  Eutropius  (ix.  15)  gives  us  no  means  of  fixing  the  date  of  this  event,  which  comes 
naturally  after  the  double  treaty  with  the  Juthungi  and  the  Vandals. 

VOL.  VII  19 


290  ILLYRIAN  EMPERORS:  THE  EMPIRE  STRENGTHENED. 

by  the  consent  of  his  troops,  as  representatives  of  the  Roman 
people.  At  least  lie  consulted  the  army  on  the  question  of  peace 
with  the  Vandals,1  and  the  withdrawal  of  the  Dacian  garrisons 
must  have  been  the  tacitly  accepted  consequence  of  the  terms  of 
a  treaty  which  the  army  approved.  In  the  state  of  the  Empire 
and  of  the  Barbaric  world  the  Danube  appeared  to  be  the  best 
frontier ;  and  the  great  successes  of  Claudius,  and  those  even  of 
Aurelian,  prove  that,  while  the  river  did  not  forbid  invaders  a 
passage,  it  at  least  made  their  return  difficult. 

We  shall  not,  as  easily  as  the  Emperor,  say  adieu  to  this 
valiant  Roman  population  of  Dacia  Trajana.  Worthy  of  its  origin, 
and  of  him  who  gave  it  its  first  cities,  it  played  in  the  Carpathians 
the  part  of  Pelagius  and  his  companions  in  the  Asturias,  —  braving 
all  invasions  from  the  height  of  this  impregnable  fortress,  regaining 
foot  by  foot,  as  the  waves  retreated  towards  the  West  and  South, 
the  lost  ground,  and  reconstituting,  after  sixteen  centuries  of 
fighting,  a  new  Italy,  Tzarea  Roumanesca ,  whose  advent  into  the 
rank  of  free  nations  is  saluted  by  all  the  peoples  of  the  Latin 
race.2 

Aurelian  had  been  obliged  to  resign  himself  to  this  blot  upon 
his  name  on  account  of  a  fresh  invasion  of  Italy  by  the  Alemanni 
and  Juthungi.  In  the  hope  of  exterminating  this  horde,  or 
capturing  it  wholly,  he  undertook  to  imitate  the  plan  of  Claudius 
at  Naissus ;  namely,  to  have  an  attack  made  from  the  front  upon 
the  invaders  by  the  larger  part  of  the  Roman  army  in  the  plain 
of  the  Po,  while  he  himself,  the  praetorians  and  auxiliaries,  should 
cut  off  their  retreat.  This  division  of  the  forces  occasioned  a 
disaster.  The  Barbarians,  emerging  in  the  evening  from  dense 
woods  in  which  they  had  concealed  themselves,  surprised  near 
Placentia  the  Romans,  who  were  not  keeping  careful  watch. 
Many  of  the  legionaries  perished,  and  a  part  of  Cisalpine  Gaul  fell 
a  prey  to  the  most  frightful  devastation.  From  the  Alps  to  the 
Straits  of  Messina  there  was  a  moment  of  terror,  as  lately  there 


1  Dexippos  (Fragm.  hist.  Graec.  iii.  685):  .  .  .  ipoptvov  fiaaihem,  o  ti  iTtp'uri  vepi  tS>v 

TTClpOVTU)"  A 6)01/  flval  8ok( !• 

2  I  cannot  accept  the  opinion  of  Rosier  ( Dacier  und  Romanen,  Vienna,  1866),  which  makes 
the  Wallachians  return  into  Dacia  in  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century,  any  more  than 
that  which  maintains  that  among  these  millions  of  men  who  speak  a  language  of  Latin  deriva¬ 
tion  there  are  not  numerous  descendants  of  Trajan’s  colonists. 


CLAUDIUS  AND  AURELIAN,  268  TO  275  a.  d. 


201 


AURELIAN.1 


had  been  in  the  peninsula  of  the  Balkans  at  the  approach  of  the 
great  Gothic  army. 

To  calm  these  terrors,  recourse  was  had  to  religious  expiations. 
Aurelian,  who  knew  what  good  use  could  he  made,  in  leading  the 
crowd,  of  the  intervention  of  the  gods  and  all  the  paraphernalia  of 
old  superstitions,  wrote  to  the  Senate  the  following  letter,  which 
the  urban  praetor  read  aloud  in  the  curia :  “  I  am  surprised,  revered 
Fathers,  that  you  have  so  long  delayed  to  open  the  Sibylline 
books ;  you  conduct  yourselves  like  men  met  in  a  church  of  Chris¬ 
tians  rather  than  in  a  temple  of  the  gods.  Act  now  at  least,  and 
by  the  sacredness  of  pontiffs  and  the  solemnities  of  religion  aid 
the  ruler  who  is  in  a  position  of  such  difficulty.  It  is  never  a 
disgrace  to  have  the  assistance  of  the  gods  in  con¬ 
quering  an  enemy.  It  is  thus  that  our  ancestors 
undertook  and  terminated  so  many  wars.” 

Before  the  arrival  of  this  letter  a  similar  pro¬ 
position  had  been  made  in  the  Senate ;  but  the 
sceptical  and  the  Emperor’s  courtiers  had  turned  it 
into  ridicule,  averring  that  Aurelian  stood  in  no  need  of  super¬ 
natural  assistance.  The  imperial  message,  however,  changed  these 
sentiments ;  and  the  first  senator  who  was  called  upon  by  the 
consul  in  charge  reproached  the  Conscript  Fathers  with  being  so 
inconsiderate  in  regard  to  the  safety  of  the  state,  and  so  slow  in 
having  recourse  to  the  books  of  destiny  and  taking  advantage 
of  the  favors  of  Apollo.1 2  “Go,  then,”  he  said,  “holy  pontiffs, 
you  who  are  pure,  irreproachable,  and  sacred ;  go  in  sacred  attire 
and  with  a  pious  mind ;  go  up  to  the  temple  and  prepare  there 
seats  wreathed  with  laurel ;  open  with  your  respected  hands  the 
books  of  religion ;  seek  therein  the  eternal  destinies  of  the  state  ; 
teach  to  children  whose  parents  are  living,  the  hymn  which  they 
are  to  sing.  We  will  decide  upon  the  expense  neccessary  for  this 
ceremony,  we  will  order  the  preparations  for  the  sacrifices,  and 
fix  the  day  for  the  lustration  of  the  fields.”3  (Session  of  January 

10,  271.) 

The  city  was  solemnly  purified,  sacred  hymns  were  sung,  a 


1  Aurelian  crowned  with  laurel.  (Gold  coin.) 

2  The  Sibylline  oracles  were  believed  to  be  inspired  by  Apollo. 

8  Yopiscus,  Aur.  19. 


292  ILLYRIAN  EMPERORS:  THE  EMPIRE  STRENGTHENED. 


procession  went  through  the  streets  ;  lastly,  sacrifices  were  offered, 
in  places  indicated  by  the  sacred  books,  to  prevent  the  Barbarians 
from  passing  over  them.1  Vopiscus  does  not  say  that  these  expi¬ 
ations  were  human  sacrifices ;  but  Aurelian  offered  captives  of 
every  nation : 2  and  this  could  have  been  no  other  than  the  ancient 
custom  of  burying  alive  men  whose  offended  shades  would  arrest 

the  march  of  their  com¬ 
patriots. 

At  the  same  time 
that  Aurelian  took  mea¬ 
sures  to  propitiate  the 
gods,  he  also  prepared 
his  campaign  against 
the  Barbarians.  The 
latter,  who  entered 
upon  war  rather  for  the 
sake  of  plunder  than 
of  gaining  territory, 
had  divided,  in  order 
to  extend  their  depre¬ 
dations.  They  seem 
to  have  advanced  as 
far  as  the  Metaurus, 
which  would  indicate 
an  intention  of  march¬ 
ing  upon  Rome,  —  the 
Hercules  killing  diomedes.3  supreme  ambition  of  all 

these  marauders.  At  least,  there  exists  an  inscription4  in  which 
the  cities  of  Pesaro  and  Fano  return  thanks  to  “  Hercules 
Augustus,  colleague  of  the  invincible  Aurelian,”  —  doubtless  for  some 
exploit  of  war  achieved  in  their  neighborhood.  Aurelian  pursued 
these  bands,  destroying  them  one  after  another ;  near  Pavia  he 
encountered  the  main  body  of  the  Barbarian  army,  and  inflicted 
upon  it  a  great  defeat.  And,  once  more,  of  these  invaders  but  few 

1  In  certis  locis  sacrificia  fierent  quae  larbari  transire  non  possent  (Vopiscus,  Aur.  18). 

2  .  .  .  Cujuslibet  gentis  captos  (ibid.  20). 

3  Engraved  stone  of  the  Cabinet  de  France  (cornelian  of  19  miliim.  by  15),  No.  1,771  of 

the  Catalogue. 

4  Orelli,  Nos.  1,031  and  1,535. 


EXPLOR.  ARCHEOL.  DE  LA  GALATIE,  ETC, 


•f  thfe 


CLAUDIUS  AND  AU DELIAN,  2G8  TO  275  a.  d. 


293 


ever  again  beheld  the  paternal  hut  concealed  in  the  vast  forests  of 
the  Neckar  and  the  Mein. 

What  went  on  at  Rome  during  this  campaign?  No  doubt, 
there  was  much  ridicule  of  the  Pannonian  who  suffered  the  sove¬ 
reign  people  to  experience  so  great  anxiety.  It  is  possible  that 
his  statues  may  have  been  overthrown,  and  some  of  his  people  or 
his  soldiers  slain.  Certain  it  is  there  were  great  riots,  for  Vopiscus 


speaks  of  violent  seditions.2  The  valiant  soldier  who  had  passed 
his  life  fighting  for  the  Empire,  regarded  this  tumult  as  treasonable,, 
and  severely  punished  those  who  were  guilty,  and  even  senators 
were  put  to  death.3 

Long  ago,  Rome,  in  the  security  which  her  fortune  and  her 
sway  gave  her,  had  gone  beyond  her  boundaries,  and  the  wall  of 
Servius  was  disappearing  under  the  houses  and  gardens  which 
covered  the  vast  embankment  and  the  base  of  the  agger  *  The 

1  From  a  photograph  by  Parker. 

2  Romam  petit  vindictae  cupidus,  quarn  seditionum  asperitas  suggerebat  (Vopiscus,  A  ur.  18 
and  21  ;  cf.  Amm.  Marcellinus,  xxx.  8). 

8  Zosimus  speaks  of  conspiracies,  and  of  conspirators  justly  punished,  among  whom  he- 
mentions  three  senators. 

4  Accordingly,  Zosimus  says  (i.  19)  of  the  Rome  of  that  day  that  it  was  dreixio-To?. 


REMAINS  OF  AURELIA'S  WALL.1 


294  ILLYRIAN  EMPERORS:  THE  EMPIRE  STRENGTHENED. 


enemy  approaching,  Aurelian  resolved  to  return  to  the  precautions 
of  earlier  days.  It  was  a  humiliating  but  necessary  avowal.  He 
gave  Rome  a  second  wall,  outside  of  the  first,  which  was  completed 
by  Probus;  this  was  about  eleven  miles  in  circumference  (271). 1 
This  new  line  of  fortifications  is  further  marked  by  the  wall  of 
Honorius,  so  called  because  of  the  repairs  made  by  that  Emperor. 

The  Barbarians  being  repulsed,  and  Rome  placed  in  safety 

from  a  sudden  attack,  Aurelian  turned  his  attention  to  the  two 
competitors  who  kept  the  eastern  and  western  parts  of  the  Empire 
outside  of  his  control,  Zenobia  and  Tetricus.  The  latter  was  the 
nearer ;  but  he  appeared  the  less  dangerous  of  the  two,  and 

Aurelian  had  private  reasons  for  feeling  no  dread  of  him.2  The 
Emperor  therefore  made  his  first  attack  upon  the  queen  of 

Palmyra. 

Odenathus,  victorious  over  Sapor,  whose  capital  he  had  twice 
insulted  by  planting  his  arrows  in  the  gates  of  Ctesiphon,  had 
been  invested  by  Gallienus  with  the  command  of  all  the  Roman 
forces  in  the  East,  and  had  even  been  associated  in  the  Empire. 
He  was  making  ready  to  deliver  Asia  Minor  from  the  Goths, 
when,  in  266-26 7,  he  fell  a  victim  to  one  of  those  tragedies  so  fre- 
•quent  in  the  royal  houses  of  the  East.3  One  day,  in  a  royal  hunt, 
his  nephew  Maeonios  shot  the  first  arrow  and  killed  the  game. 

It  was  contrary  to  etiquette,  which  reserved  this  to  the  king;  and 
Odenathus  angrily  reproved  the  young  man.  Maeonios  paid  no 
attention  to  the  reproof.  Ambition  to  be  considered  the  most 
skilful  hunter  in  the  desert  deprived  him  of  all  prudence ;  twice 
again  his  arrows  anticipated  those  of  the  king.  The  insult  was  pub¬ 
lic.  Odenathus  took  from  him  his  horse,  —  which  was  equivalent 
to  depriving  him  of  his  rank ;  and  when  the  violent  youth  broke 
forth  in  threats,  he  caused  him  to  be  thrown  into  prison.  Being 
set  free  at  the  entreaty  of  Herodes,  the  king’s  eldest  son,  the 
Arab  cherished  in  his  heart  a  bitter  animosity,  and,  with  the  aid 

1  I  follow  Piale’s  correction  ( Delle  Mura  Aureliane ),  which,  in  the  text  of  Vopiscus  (A  ur. 
39),  quinquaginta  prope  millia,  understands  pedum,  and  not  passuum  ;  50,000  Roman  feet  making 
about  eleven  miles. 

2  Eckhel  (vii.  456)  thinks  even  that  the  negotiation  of  which  we  shall  shortly  speak 
had  been  begun  under  Claudius.  Coins  exist  in  which  are  represented  Claudius  and  Tetricus, 
one  on  either  side  (De  Boze,  Mem.  de  V Acad,  des  inscr.  xxvi.  515). 

3  The  date  of  the  death  of  Odenathus  is  determined  by  the  Alexandrian  coins ;  it  occurred 
between  the  29th  of  August,  266,  and  the  28th  of  August,  267. 


‘  1 


